Former CIA Officer Says U.S. Ready To Strike Iran Within 6 Months

The United States could deliver a military strike against Iran within the next six months, a former CIA officer told Fox News. In an interview August 28, the U.S. TV channel asked Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, whether the U.S. was preparing for military action against Iran, citing Baer's column for Time Magazine on August 18, where he suggested that Washington officials expect an attack within the next six months. "I've taken an informal poll inside the government," Baer told Fox. "The feeling is we will hit the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC]." He said the George W. Bush administration is convinced "that the Iranians are interfering in Iraq and the rest of the Gulf," but what his sources anticipate is "not exactly a war." "We won't see American troops cross the border," said Baer. "If this is going to happen, it is going to happen very quickly and it is going to surprise a lot of people." There were recent reports that Washington would put Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard - the largest branch of Iran's military, separate from the rest of the army - on the terrorism list. Baer said the U.S. military suspects that the Revolutionary Guard is the main supplier of sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to insurgents killing coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also said there is a belief among neo-conservative elements in the Bush administration that the Revolutionary Guard is an obstacle to democratic and a friendly Iran. "IRGC IED's are a casus belli for this administration. There will be an attack on Iran," Baer quoted an anonymous White House source as saying.

Boeing Bids On Next Generation Global Positioning Satellite System

Boeing has submitted its proposal to the U.S. Air Force for the development and production of up to 12 Global Positioning System (GPS) III satellites. The enhanced spacecraft will offer positioning service that is 10 times better than today's system as well as improved anti-jamming capabilities for the warfighter. "Boeing's GPS III offering builds on our proven 34-year GPS partnership with the U.S. Air Force," said Howard Chambers, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "Our best value offer brings together the best of Boeing's space-based navigation and communications capabilities, including our integrated GPS space and control segment experience, to deliver a low-risk, high-value program to the U.S. Air Force." Working with the U.S. Air Force for more than two years on risk reduction demonstrations and detailed plans, Boeing completed a successful System Design Review for the next-generation GPS satellite constellation earlier this year. Boeing also validated the technology readiness of its low risk, heritage-based flexible payload architecture to meet future GPS III performance requirements in an end-to-end demonstration in July. Boeing will continue its current GPS III system definition and risk reduction contract effort in parallel with the Air Force's source selection process to preserve continuity and ensure the program launches the first constellation in mid-2013, as scheduled.

Ekahau, VeriChip Hope All Will Receive Xmark

Hospitals across the world using Ekahau’s Wi-Fi enabled real time tracking solutions (RLTS) will benefit from tighter system security after the Finland-based company partnered with VeriChip. As part of the agreement, Ekahau will work alongside Xmark, a VeriChip subsidiary which specialises in RFID-based healthcare security systems. Specifically, the companies will collaborate on providing solutions around asset tracking,infant protection, patient safety and theft prevention in the healthcare industry. Solutions such as wander prevention, perimeter security and campus to bed-level tracking of assets are initial areas of focus for the collaboration. The two companies are also co-operating on an integrated solution that combines RFID and Wi-Fi technologies to suit the particular needs of individual hospitals. Antti Korhonen, president and CEO of Ekahau, told E-Health Europe: “This agreement combines the best wireless solutions available to the healthcare marketplace. “Xmark offers a superior solution for a variety of security applications, while Ekahau has been extremely effective in tracking assets across large hospital campuses. Together we can offer hospitals the technology they need to meet their most urgent needs.” One of the first hospitals to benefit from the partnership will be the Herentals Hospital in Belgium which uses Ekahau’s RTLS to track patients through its operating room complex. A Herentals Hospital spokesperson said: “We believe the two solutions will add a significant new layer of information and support to complement our patient care. “Precision tracking of patients through the operating theatre will enable more efficient throughput and better use of existing resources, which is essential to the running of any modern hospital.”

Dollar collapse, stock market sell-off looms

With Wall Street begging the Federal Reserve to cut the Fed Funds target rate, few have noticed the effective rate already has been lowered, triggering what could be the beginning of an unprecedented worldwide dollar sell-off. Econometrician John Williams documented in the most recent newsletter on his Shadow Government Statistics website that in the 11 trading days since the Fed has cut the discount rate, the effective Fed Funds rate has averaged 4.84 percent, ranging 25 to 50 basis points below the official 5.25 percent target rate. The Fed Funds rate is the rate at which commercial banks may borrow excess reserves from one another. It is considered the key rate index set by the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee, or FOMC. The minutes of the Aug. 7 FOMC are due to be released tomorrow and are certain to be scrutinized by Fed watchers for indications of the future direction of movement in Fed Fund target rates set by the committee. Currently, Wall Street is begging for a rate ease as a return to the easy credit policy that fueled the credit markets in real estate, commercial paper and leveraged buyouts. An unprecedented strategy of widely available easy credit has stimulated world stock markets to a string of record highs since 9/11, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a peak of more than 14,000 July 19. To stabilize the Dow's 1,000-point drop since then, the Fed literally has printed money. Williams estimates central banks around the world, including the Fed, have infused $1 trillion in the global banking system during the last two weeks. While the European Central Bank has been raising rates, the drop in the effective Fed Funds rate and the reduction of the discount rate pushed the dollar down Friday to $80.68 on the U.S. dollar index, ending a brief rally that had begun in the prospect the Fed would hold rates in the face of a sell-off. The Fed is in a dilemma. If it lowers the Fed Fund target rate, the dollar will suffer on world currency exchanges. A dollar sell-off will trigger a new stock market sell-off.

Israel willing to give up Temple Mount

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the Jewish state is willing to forfeit control over the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, according to an Arab media report. The Egyptian Al Massrioun daily reported last weekend Barak informed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the Jordanian government Israel is willing to hand them joint control over the Temple Mount. The report follows an article last week stating Palestinian negotiators drafting an agreement behind the scenes with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office made clear they will not accept any final peace deal with Israel unless the Jewish state forfeits the Temple Mount. According to the Egyptian media report over the weekend, Barak stated an umbrella group of several Arab countries controlling the holy site instead of only the PA would help ease Israeli domestic opposition to giving up the Temple Mount, since Egypt and Jordan are considered by Israeli policy to be moderate countries. During U.S.-led negotiations in 2000, Barak, then prime minister, reportedly was willing to forfeit the Temple Mount to international control. Those negotiations fell through after Palestinian President Yasser Arafat rejected an offer of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem.

New Money Coming Next Year Aimed At Adding Security

After six decades in which the venerable greenback never changed its look, the U.S. currency has undergone a slew of makeovers. The most amazing is yet to come. A new security thread has been approved for the $100 bill, and the change will cause double-takes. The new look is part of an effort to thwart counterfeiters who are armed with ever-more sophisticated computers, scanners and color copiers. The C-note, with features the likeness of Benjamin Franklin, is the most frequent target of counterfeiters operating outside the United States. The operation of the new security thread looks like something straight out of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This magic, however, relies on innovations produced from decades of development. It combines micro-printing with tiny lenses - 650,000 for a single $100 bill. The lenses magnify the micro-printing in a truly remarkable way. Move the bill side to side and the image appears to move up and down. Move the bill up and down and the image appears to move from side to side.

A Hundred Katrinas: Climate Change and Threat to U.S. Coast

If you thought Katrina was the big one, wait till you see what's coming to your neighborhood. As the atmosphere heats up and polar ice caps melt, sea levels are projected to rise significantly, sending water lapping against coastal flood defenses around the world. And if that added heat fuels bigger hurricanes, as many scientists now believe, Katrina-like storms won't strike once a century, but possibly once a generation. And if that still seems infrequent enough, consider this: For every catastrophic storm, we experience dozens of minor disasters, and many of those will strike harder, or in unexpected places. If so far you've been among the majority of Americans who haven't had to worry about floods or hurricanes, that may soon change.

DARPA Looks Ahead To Fight America's Future Wars

Envision an aircraft carrier in the sky. Drugs that can immediately prepare soldiers for duty at high altitudes. Prosthetic limbs with something approaching real sensitivity. The Pentagon has. DARPA is planning for a long war in which U.S. troops will be expected to face guerrilla adversaries. And just as during the Cold War, DARPA is counting on high-tech Silicon Valley to give U.S. forces the edge. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, who spoke at the DARPA conference via satellite, also predicted that the United States is much closer to the beginning of this long war than to its end. Ideally, DARPA hopes to develop weapons that would allow the United States to one day patrol the "arc of instability" from a high altitude. The aerial platforms in the early stages of development are designed not only to warn of threats, but to neutralize them by delivering what DARPA calls "ultra-precise effects" - smart bombs on steroids - that could be launched from anywhere in the continental United States.

Head of NCC says: We Have Very Strong Indicators That Al Qaeda Is Planning Large Scale Attack On US

Al Qaeda has an active plot to hit the West. The United States knows about it but doesn’t have enough tactical detail to issue a precise warning or raise the threat level, says Vice Admiral (ret.) John Scott Redd, who heads the government’s National Counterterrorism Center. In an interview at his headquarters near Washington, D.C., Redd told Newsweek’s Mark Hosenball and Jeffrey Bartholet that the country is better prepared than ever to counter such threats. But he also believes another successful terror attack on the U.S. homeland is inevitable. Earlier this summer, there was talk that people were picking up chatter that reminded them of the summer before 9/11. The Germans basically said this is like pre-9/11. They said, “We are very worried.” What do you make of this? We have very strong indicators that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the West and is likely to [try to] attack, and we are pretty sure about that.

DARPA Selects SRI International to Lead Development of PLATO, a Machine Learning System that Could Launch a New Field of Military A.I.

SRI International, an independent, nonprofit research and development organization, announced on August 28, that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded an SRI-led, multi-organization team an initial $10 million, 15-month (Phase 1) contract to develop a learning system called Phased Learning through Analyzing, Teaching and Observation (PLATO). PLATO is a major component of DARPA’s newly formed program called Bootstrapped Learning. The total value of the effort, if all phases of the development program are completed, could be up to $27 million over 3.25 years. The SRI-led team will deliver a domain-independent electronic ‘student’ that can be taught and can learn in human-like ways. SRI will serve as the systems integrator, focused on integrating all development tools so that they function effectively and seamlessly within the PLATO system. “Our team will deliver a domain-independent electronic 'student' that can be taught and can learn in human-like ways,” said Tom Garvey, Ph.D., associate director of SRI's Artificial Intelligence Center. “SRI will serve as the systems integrator and will focus on integrating all development tools so that they function effectively and seamlessly within the PLATO system.” “Despite advances in programming environments, knowledge acquisition, and learning methodologies, we have limited methods for domain experts to convey their expertise to a machine,” said Ray Perrault, Ph.D., director of SRI’s Artificial Intelligence Center.

VeriChip Corporation and Alzheimer's Community Care Officially Launch VeriMed Patient Identification Project on August 28

As previously announced on February 22, 2007, this project will evaluate the effectiveness of the VeriMed Patient Identification System in managing the medical records of Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers. The kick-off will take place at Alzheimer's Community Care headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, on August 28, from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Patients will have the opportunity to enroll in the project and receive the VeriMed microchip by a licensed physician. In the two-year, 200 patient project, participating individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia, as well as their caregivers, will receive the VeriMed microchip, providing emergency department staff easy access to those patients' identification and medical information.

Unmanned U.S. spy plane crashes near inter-Korean border

An unmanned US military spy plane used to monitor North Korean troop movements has crashed near the heavily fortified inter-Korean border, US officials said on August 24. The Shadow 200 went down on August 23, at night, near the Camp Casey US army base at Dongducheon, 18 kilometres (11 miles) south of the Demilitarised Zone which bisects the peninsula, a US military spokesman said. "The drone crashed in an unpopulated area that is densely vegetated and mountainous, causing no human losses," he told AFP. Its mission is to monitor North Korean troop movements while flying along the border, he said, adding that it never crosses the frontier. The drone, controlled from the ground, suffered "probable mechanical engine failures" shortly after take-off, the US military said in a statement. "This type of small tactical drone is routinely flown in Korea and in dozens of countries around the world to support a tactical level of training," it said.

Pestilence Of Biblical Proportions Quietly Brewing

Transgenic corn hybrids, such as Bt corn, are engineered to produce toxins that target specific insect pests. Planting refuges of non-Bt corn near Bt crops slows the development of Bt-resistance in insects. This year, Nebraska farmers planted 79 percent of their corn crop to genetically modified varieties. That was up from 76 percent last year. State farmers planted 9.1 million acres of corn this year. Steffey said because non-Bt corn hybrids sometimes yield less than Bt hybrids, some farmers are doing away with refuges altogether a violation of federal law. These practices will increase the rate at which target insects become resistant, he said. "Some corn growers are looking at short-term gains and ignoring long-term consequences. This is a mistake repeating itself from the 1960s," he said. Steffey said some growers take the new technologies, such as transgenic corn, for granted, believing that the problems of resistance will not arise with these new products. But resistance is a normal, ecological adaptation to any selective stress, Steffey said. "We have an insect, the western corn rootworm, that became resistant to crop rotation," he said. "That made us aware of what we're dealing with: This insect is plastic, genetically, and can adapt to a lot of things."

Russia Unveils Pilotless Stealth Bomber

Russia has unveiled a mock-up of a pilotless bomber jet that Russian engineers say will evade enemy radars even better than U.S. Stealth bombers and fighters. Russian television on August 23, showed a full-size model of the bat-like jet at an ongoing international air show outside Moscow. The report said the so-called ‘Skat’ aircraft is equipped to carry cruise missiles and can hit targets both at land and at sea. President Vladimir Putin in June vowed to build up Russia's military capabilities, in response to U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in central Europe. Since then, Moscow has resumed the Soviet-era practice of sending long-range bomber flights on regular patrols across the globe. Mr. Putin has also unveiled a new air defense system near Moscow, and ordered the production of an intercontinental ballistic missile for a new generation of nuclear submarines.

Christians arrested in China crackdown

Authorities have increased arrests of Christians operating outside China's sole official government church as a the result of a crackdown ordered last month, an overseas monitoring group reported on August 24. At least 15 leaders in the unofficial church have been detained in recent days across six provinces and regions, according to the China Aid Association, based in Midland, Texas. They include seven church leaders arrested during a worship service in Inner Mongolia on August 21, and six others detained for up to 10 days in the neighboring provinces of Shandong and Jiangsu. In another case, Christian businessman Zhou Heng was arrested while picking up an order of 2 tons of Bibles at a bus station, the association said. Those actions follow a crackdown on unauthorized religious activity ordered July 5 as part of a drive against crime and economic chaos at the village level. "Strike hard against illegal religious and evil cult activity; eliminate elements that affect the stability of village governance," said the directive.

At spiritualist camp, they see dead people

They’re walking around the grounds, sitting in the dining hall and in the pews at the abandoned church. Kids, heard by visitors but usually only seen by those trained to see into the spirit world, play outside the rustic and run-down cabins. “Oh yeah, they’re all over the place,” says Judy Ulch, a jovial 60-year-old who claims not only to see dead people but also receive messages from them that she passes on to their loved ones who pay $40 per half hour for her services. “Sometimes I see them so close, I see the stubble on their face,” Ulch says. Ulch and other self-described mediums live at the Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp every summer, welcoming guests from around the country who come for visits between 15 minutes and overnight to get insight into their lives from the dearly departed. They seek hope, solace and inspiration. And sometimes they just come for a fun day out with friends. Or to try to disprove what Ulch and others claim to be their ability to see spirits. Wonewoc is one of 13 spiritualism camps across the country. It first opened in 1893 and is in its 106th summer season. For years visitors arrived by train and climbed the hill to the wooded bluff overlooking the small town, with a population now of just over 800. The 37-acre camp is run by followers of Spiritualism, a religion that started in the mid-1800s and reached the height of its popularity at the end of that century, but that still maintains an estimated 250,000 followers. Some tenets of Spiritualism are that people live on after death and they can be communicated with using a medium like Ulch or Hilda First. First claims messages from a spirit named Fairchild who speaks to her in Shakespearean English. Perhaps the most famous spiritualist camp — in Cassadaga, Fla. — is 113 years old and on the National Register of Historic Places. More than 30 mediums live in the city, which some refer to as the “psychic center of the world.”

$4.5 billion Stock Market options bet on catastrophe within four weeks

The two sales are being referred to by market traders as "bin Laden trades" because only an event on the scale of 9-11 could make these short-sell options valuable. There are 65,000 contracts @ $750.00 for the SPX 700 calls for open interest. That controls 6.5 million shares at $750 = $4.5 Billion. Not a single trade. But quite a bit of $$ on a contract that is 700 points away from current value. No one would buy that deep "in the money" calls. No reason to. So if they were sold looks like someone betting on massive dislocation. The entity or individual offering these sales can only make money if the market drops 30%-50% within the next four weeks. If the market does not drop, the entity or individual involved stands to lose over $1 billion just for engaging in these contracts! Clearly, someone knows something big is going to happen BEFORE the options expire on Sept. 21. THEORIES: The following theories are being discussed widely within the stock and options markets today regarding the enormous and very unusual activity reported above and two stories below. Those theories are: 1) A massive terrorist attack is going to take place before Sept. 21 to tank the markets, OR; 2) China, reeling over losing $10 Billion in bad loans to the sub-prime mortgage collapse presently taking place, is going to dump US currency and tank all of Capitalism with a Communist financial revolution. Either scenario is bad and the clock is ticking. The drop-dead date of these contracts is September 21. Whatever is going to happen MUST take place between now and then or the folks involved in these contracts will lose over $1 billion for having engaged in this activity.

Iraqi terrorists caught along Mexico border

President Bush's top intelligence aide has confirmed that Iraqi terrorists have been captured coming into the United States from Mexico. The confirmation comes from National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell, who talked about the situation in an interview with the El Paso Times recently. "Coming up through the Mexican border is a path," McConnell said. "Now, are they doing it in great numbers? No, because we're finding them and we're identifying them and we've got watch lists and we're keeping them at bay." But, he said, "There are numerous situations where people are alive today because we caught them (terrorists)." Intelligence officials say the numbers and details of such situations are classified, but McConnell pointed as an example to Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, who entered the United States through Tijuana, Mexico, in 2001, and later pleaded guilty to helping raise money for Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. The goal, McConnell said, is for terrorists to gain admittance to the United States, and then produce "mass casualties." "You've got committed leadership. You've got a place to train. They've got trainers, and they've got recruits," McConnell told the newspaper. "The key now is getting recruits in.

Iran Starts Production of Smart Bombs

Iran said that it has developed a new 900-kilogram (2,000-pound) smart bomb and that it will start industrial-scale production of the bomb on August 26. The guided bomb, named Qased (Messenger), can be deployed by Iran's F-4 and F-5 fighter jets and will be officially unveiled next week, Iranian defense ministry said. The bomb, equipped with a smart guiding system, is produced by few countries due to the advanced technical know-how required for its production and Iran is the last in the chain of countries which have succeeded in developing the technology.

Threat Of Terrorist Attack Used To Push Biometric ID

Clarke recently criticized the widespread efforts to frustrate Real ID, the 2005 federal law that pushes states to create secure driver's licenses. Without such solid identification, he wrote, "potential terrorists here illegally can easily use phony licenses or, in many states, get real ones issued to them, along with credit cards and all of the other papers needed to blend into our society." Politicians of both parties have latched onto a misguided populist revolt against these secure driver's licenses, and they may rue the day they did. You need just one terrorist waving a fake driver's license at airport security on his way to committing mayhem, and public opposition to Real ID will vanish.

Scientists: Inducing Out Of Body Experiences Seen As Portal To New Industries, Theology

A collaborative team of scientists and philosophers reports progress toward understanding what happens when someone experiences an OBE, or feelings of disembodiment. What's more, this team of hokum-busters has suggested some practical ways in which the physiological mechanisms driving OBEs can be used beneficially. On a much more fundamental and profound level, the team also believes that solving the mystery of OBEs will reveal where we derive our sense of self. There's all sorts of far-fetched ideas regarding OBEs: meeting up with fellow disembodied souls on astral planes; visiting dead relatives; or even looking into the future. But aside from the claims made by spiritualists regarding OBEs, many people who have suffered severe trauma (like a car accident or stroke) also experience feelings of disembodiment. But just what is occurring inside the brain during these bouts of mental meanderings has baffled scientists and philosophers - until now. Roughly 10 percent of people will report an OBE at some point in their lives. But this relatively high frequency hasn't really helped in explaining these freakish and disturbing experiences. Now, neuroscientist Dr. Henrik Ehrsson, from the University College London, seems to have devised an array of experiments that induces at least some aspects of an OBE in healthy participants. This is important, because if OBEs can be induced under controlled conditions, then researchers may be able to clear up some of the mysticism surrounding them. "Out-of-body experiences have fascinated mankind for millennia," says Ehrsson. "Their existence has raised fundamental questions about the relationship between human consciousness and the body, and has been much discussed in theology, philosophy and psychology."

Flying robot to aid China Antarctic expedition

A robot that can fly "like a mini-helicopter" and a second that can glide across ice will aid Chinese scientists during an Antarctic expedition slated for October, Xinhua news agency reported on Augusr 26. The airborne robot can fly for an hour at speeds of 50 to 100 kilometers (30 to 60 miles) an hour and will be equipped with a camera and an infrared radiometer for observing ice on the sea. The second robot can slide across ice crevasses and snowy slopes, the report said. "The use of robots can reduce the risks and costs in scientific research," Xinhua quoted Qin Weijia, of the Polar Research Institute of China, as saying. "No matter how bad the weather is, they can still work normally." The 200-strong expedition team will set up seismic stations in Antarctica to measure tremors and tectonic movements on the continent, the report said.

Death toll mounts as floods, heat wave batter U.S.

Unrelenting storms and floods have forced thousands of people from their homes, while other states have wilted in a record-breaking heatwave with the death toll from the extreme weather hitting the US rising to almost 50 on August 23. Mudslides and murky floodwaters hampered rescue efforts in the central and southern states of Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio, Iowa and Wisconsin after a week of heavy rains that has left 23 dead. In Wisconsin three people, including a toddler, were the latest victims, after they were electrocuted and died on August 22, when lightening struck a utility pole and knocked a live wire into a deep puddle at a bus stop. Meanwhile, soaring temperatures in the southeastern states of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama have been blamed for the deaths at least 25 people. The trouble began a week ago when tropical storm Erin gathered strength instead of weakening as it passed over Oklahoma and Texas, which is experiencing its wettest year in more than a century. Erin then joined up with another storm system which had brought mudslides, floods and seven deaths to Minnesota. Together, the storms strengthened and dumped even more rain on the saturated grounds and overflowing rivers of the midwest. "This is unprecedented," said Patrick Slattery, a spokesman for the National Weather service, predicting that more rain is on the way.

Chertoff Tells States To Get On Biometric ID Bandwagon

In a real show of defiance, more than half the nation’s states have passed or proposed legislation opposing the Real ID plan in some way or another. This plan requires issuing new federal driver’s licenses for all drivers by the year 2013, and would link state driver’s license databases in one huge federal database. In response to state opposition, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has issued a threat saying that the Real ID cards would be mandatory for all "federal purposes," when it comes to domestic traveling in order to coerce these rebellious states into complying. "Federal purposes" include boarding an airplane, walking into a federal building or nuclear facility, or picnicking at one’s favorite national park.

Russia steps up military expansion

Vladimir Putin announced ambitious plans to revive Russia's military power and restore its role as the world's leading producer of military aircraft on August 21. Speaking at the opening of the largest airshow in Russia's post-Soviet history, the president said he was determined to make aircraft manufacture a national priority after decades of lagging behind the west. The remarks follow his decision last week to resume long-range missions by strategic bomber aircraft capable of hitting the US with nuclear weapons. Patrols over the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic began last week for the first time since 1992. Presidential aides hinted that Russia could shortly resume the production of Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic nuclear bombers, now that the aircraft are again flying "combat missions". The bombers would be used as a "means of strategic deterrence", a presidential aide, Alexander Burutin, told Interfax. Mr Putin said Russia would also resume the large-scale manufacture of civilian planes. "Russia has a very important goal which is to retain leadership in the production of military equipment," he said. The new emphasis on Russia's revived military prowess comes against a backdrop of deteriorating relations with the west. Mr Putin has denounced the US's missile defence plans in Europe, scrapped an agreement with Nato on conventional armed forces, and grabbed a large, if symbolic, chunk of the Arctic.

British Army Deploys New Weapon Based On Mass-Killing Technology

A new 'super-weapon' being supplied to British soldiers in Afghanistan employs technology based on the "thermobaric" principle which uses heat and pressure to kill people targeted across a wide air by sucking the air out of lungs and rupturing internal organs. The so-called "enhanced blast" weapon uses similar technology used in the US "bunker busting" bombs and the devastating bombs dropped by the Russians to destroy the Chechen capital, Grozny. Such weapons are brutally effective because they first disperse a gas or chemical agent which is lit at a second stage, allowing the blast to fill the spaces of a building or the crevices of a cave.

Gaping hole of 'Nothingness' found in universe

A giant hole in the Universe is devoid of galaxies, stars and even lacks dark matter, astronomers said on August 23. The team at the University of Minnesota said the void is nearly a billion light-years across and they have no idea why it is there. "Not only has no one ever found a void this big, but we never even expected to find one this size," said astronomy professor Lawrence Rudnick. Writing in the Astrophysical Journal, Rudnick and colleagues Shea Brown and Liliya Williams said they were examining a cold spot using the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe satellite, and found the giant hole. "We already knew there was something different about this spot in the sky," Rudnick said. The region stood out as being colder in a survey of the Cosmic Microwave Background -- the faint radio buzz left over from the Big Bang that gave birth to the Universe. "What we've found is not normal, based on either observational studies or on computer simulations of the large-scale evolution of the Universe," Williams said in a statement. The astronomers said the region even appeared to lack dark matter, which cannot be seen directly but is usually detected by measuring gravitational forces. The void is in a region of sky in the constellation Eridanus, southwest of Orion.

Robot Wars - Near Future Reality

Increasingly, the military wants to hand over the responsibility of killing to conscienceless machines. Some say it’s a great way to protect our troops and others are calling it a cold-hearted cop-out. In either case, the US military hopes to dehumanize military operations as quickly as possible. The US National Research Council advises "aggressively exploiting the considerable war fighting benefits offered by autonomous vehicles". They are cheap to manufacture, require less personnel and, according to the navy, perform better in complex missions. One battlefield soldier could start a large-scale robot attack in the air and on the ground.

U.N.: Diseases spreading faster than ever

Infectious diseases are emerging more quickly around the globe, spreading faster and becoming increasingly difficult to treat, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on August 23. In its annual World Health Report, the United Nations agency warned there was a good possibility that another major scourge like AIDS, SARS or Ebola fever with the potential of killing millions would appear in the coming years. "Infectious diseases are now spreading geographically much faster than at any time in history," the WHO said. It said it was vital to keep watch for new threats like the emergence in 2003 of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which spread from China to 30 countries and killed 800 people. "It would be extremely naive and complacent to assume that there will not be another disease like AIDS, another Ebola, or another SARS, sooner or later," the report warned. Since the 1970s, the WHO said, new threats have been identified at an "unprecedented rate" of one or more every year, meaning that nearly 40 diseases exist today which were unknown just over a generation ago. During the past five years alone, WHO experts had verified more than 1,100 epidemics of different diseases. With more than 2 billion people traveling by air every year, the U.N. agency said: "an outbreak or epidemic in one part of the world is only a few hours away from becoming an imminent threat somewhere else."

Pupils face tracking bugs in school blazers

A school uniform maker said on August 21, that it was "seriously considering" adding tracking devices to its clothes after a survey found many parents would be interested in knowing where their offspring were. Trutex would not say whether it was studying a spy in the waistband or a bug in the blazer but admitted teenagers were less keen than younger children on the "big brother" idea. The Lancashire company, which sells 1m blouses, 1.1m shirts, 250,000 pairs of trousers, 200,000 blazers, 60,000 skirts and 110,000 pieces of knitwear each year, commissioned an online survey for 809 parents and 444 children aged between nine and 16. It said 44% of the adults were worried about the safety of pre-teen children and 59% would be interested in satellite tracking systems being incorporated in schoolwear. While nearly four in 10 pupils aged 12 and under were prepared to go along with the idea, teenagers were more wary of "spying". Clare Rix, the marketing director, said: "As well as being a safety net for parents, there could be real benefits for schools who could keep a closer track on the whereabouts of their pupils, potentially reducing truancy levels.'

Northrop Grumman enters US Army monster raygun lorry race

Northrop Grumman has won a $8m US Army contract to develop a beam control system demonstrator for a laser energy weapon which can be mounted on an enormous truck. The Grumman demo kit will be in competition with a rival design to be developed by Boeing under a recent $7m contract. The US Army's High Energy Laser Tactical Demonstrator (HEL TD) project is intended to produce a powerful raygun system which can be mounted on a mobile battlefield vehicle. The complete system is expected to be very heavy compared to most current weapons, so the plan is to put it on a massive 20 ton Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT). The blaster lorry could be parked in army bases or camps of the future situated in hostile countries, where bombardments by insurgent or enemy rockets, artillery and mortars (RAM) might be expected. The hope is that laser beams striking at the speed of light could rapidly zap entire salvoes of incoming ordnance out of the sky before they hit. Thus far, the only lasers powerful enough to blast or detonate things themselves are chemically-fuelled ones, as featured in the planned Airborne Laser ICBM-grilling jumbo jet. These weapons are seen by the Army as prohibitively heavy and their toxic fuels and waste products as unacceptably troublesome. HEL TD is supposed to use a yet-to-be-developed electrically-powered solid state laser. Rayguns of this type are normally seen as too weak at present for use as weapons in their own right: though another US arms maker, Raytheon, claims to have achieved worthwhile results with existing kit.

Islands emerge as Arctic ice shrinks to record low

Previously unknown islands are appearing as Arctic summer sea ice shrinks to record lows, raising questions about whether global warming is outpacing U.N. projections, experts said. Polar bears and seals have also suffered this year on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard because the sea ice they rely on for hunts melted far earlier than normal. "Reductions of snow and ice are happening at an alarming rate," Norwegian Environment Minister Helen Bjoernoy said at a seminar of 40 scientists and politicians that began late on Monday in Ny Alesund, 1,200 km (750 miles) from the North Pole. "This acceleration may be faster than predicted" by the U.N. climate panel this year, she told reporters at the August 20-22 seminar. Ny Alesund calls itself the world's most northerly permanent settlement, and is a base for Arctic research.

Cold-Fusion Graybeards Keep the Research Coming

At an MIT lecture hall on Saturday, August 18, a convocation of 50 researchers and investors gathered to discuss a phenomenon that allegedly does not exist. Despite a backdrop of meager funding and career-killing derision from mainstream scientists and engineers, cold fusion is anything but a dead field of research. Presenters at the MIT event estimated that 3,000 published studies from scientists around the world have contributed to the growing canon of evidence suggesting that small but promising amounts of energy can be generated using the infamous tabletop apparatus.

71% Favor Requiring Foreign Visitors to Carry Universal ID Card

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters nationwide favor cutting off federal funds for "sanctuary cities" that offer protection to illegal immigrants. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 29% are opposed. Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney proposed such a plan earlier this week. By a 71% to 16% margin, voters also favor a proposal that would require all foreign visitors to carry a universal identification card as proposed by another GOP Presidential hopeful, Rudy Giuliani . Seventy-four percent (74%) also favor the creation and funding of a central database to track all foreign visitors in the United States. By a 56% to 31% margin, voters want the government to continue building a fence along the Mexican border.

Masters Of Deception And The End Game Hive Mind

A report co-sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Commerce Department calls for a broad-based research program to find ways to use nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive sciences, to achieve telepathy, machine-to-human communication, amplified sensory experience, enhanced intellectual capacity, and mass participation in a "hive mind." Quoting the report: "With knowledge no longer encapsulated in individuals, the distinction between individuals and the entirety of humanity would blur. Think Vulcan mind-meld. We would perhaps become more of a hive mind--an enormous, single, intelligent entity." Armies may one day be fielded by machines that think for themselves while devices will respond to soldiers' commands before their thoughts are fully formed, it says. The report says the abilities are within our grasp but will require an intense public-relations effort to "prepare key organisations and societal activities for the changes made possible by converging technologies", and to counter concern over "ethical, legal and moral" issues. Education should be overhauled down to the primary-school level to bridge curriculum gaps between disparate subject areas.

Rising Powers Have The U.S. In Their Sights

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States stood tall - militarily invincible, economically unrivaled, diplomatically uncontestable. And the dominating force on information channels worldwide. The next century was to be the true "American century", with the rest of the world molding itself in the image of the sole superpower. Then came Bush and not even a decade of this century behind us, we are already witnessing the rise of a multipolar world in which new powers are challenging different aspects of US supremacy - Russia and China in the forefront, with regional powers Venezuela and Iran forming the second rank. These emergent powers are primed to erode US hegemony, not confront it, singly or jointly.

Curious creature caught off Keahole Point

What appears to be a half-squid, half-octopus specimen found off Keahole Point on the Big Island remains unidentified today and could possibly be a new species, said local biologists. The specimen was found caught in a filter in one of Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority's deep-sea water pipelines last week. The pipeline, which runs 3,000 feet deep, sucks up cold, deep-sea water for the tenants of the natural energy lab. "When we first saw it, I was really delighted because it was new and alive," said Jan War, operations manager at NELHA. "I've never seen anything like that." The natural energy lab is a state agency that operates Hawaii Ocean Science and Technology Park in Kailua-Kona, adjacent to one of the steepest offshore slopes in the Hawaiian Islands. According to Richard Young, an oceanography professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the specimen tentatively belongs to the genus Mastigoteuthis, but the species is undetermined. War, who termed the specimen "octosquid" for the way it looked, said it was about a foot long, with white suction cups, eight tentacles and an octopus head with a squidlike mantle. The octosquid was pulled to the surface, along with three rattail fish and half a dozen satellite jellyfish, and stayed alive for three days. According to War, the lab usually checks its filters once a month, but this time, it put a plankton net in one of the filters and checked it two weeks later.

Department of Homeland Security Granting Millions for Surveillance Cameras

The Department of Homeland Security is handing over millions of dollars to local governments to buy high-tech surveillance camera networks to combat terrorism. The cameras can keep streets and parks under constant observation and help thwart terrorist attacks or track down perpetrators. The department won’t say exactly how much money is being spent on the surveillance systems. But an investigation by the Boston Globe found that at least tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars are being spread around the country for those systems as part of Homeland Security grants. In the past month alone, St. Paul, Minn., received a $1.2 million grant for 60 cameras to be positioned downtown, and Pittsburgh got $2.58 million for 83 cameras, the Globe reports. Big cities including New York and Chicago are building large-scale surveillance systems that could also link thousands of privately owned security cameras. A project launched in October 2004 to install 1,000 closed-circuit cameras with 3,000 sensors in the New York City subway system is expected to be completed in 2008, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier. The city already has more than 3,000 cameras in housing projects. Even small towns are getting a share of the Homeland Security Department’s money. For example, Liberty, Kans. – population 95 – got a grant to install a surveillance camera in its park.

Digital Angel Corporation Awarded Tender by United Nations Agency

Digital Angel Corporation, an advanced technology company in the field of rapid and accurate identification, location tracking and condition monitoring of high-value assets, announced today that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is an agency of the United Nations, has awarded Digital Angel a tender to microchip llamas in Peru. The IAEA wants to ensure the llama population remains unaffected from nearby nuclear power plants. The initial order calls for 1,000 microchips and two readers. Barry M. Edelstein, interim President and CEO of Digital Angel, said, "We are proud to receive this prestigious tender, which is indicative of the broad-based use of our microchip technology as well as the steady progress we have made growing our business in Latin America. We will work to leverage this order, to market our products and obtain new orders throughout the Americas and other parts of the world." Digital Angel Corporation Develops and deploys sensor and communications technologies that enable rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets. Applications for the Company's products include identification and monitoring of humans, pets, fish, poultry and livestock through its patented implantable microchips; location tracking and message monitoring of vehicles and aircraft in remote locations through systems that integrate GPS and geosynchronous satellite communications; and monitoring of asset conditions such as temperature and movement, through advanced miniature sensors.

Last month’s UK ‘appeal’ to identify technologies that could prevent child abduction has moved forward rapidly

In a letter published last month, prompted by the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, design engineer Peter Fitzsimmons challenged Eureka readers to come up with a device to track lost children. Maidstone-based Blue Tree Services launched its OurKids child tracking system in the UK and Ireland earlier this year. The device comes in two parts: children wear the Blueranger unit, supplied with a belt similar to a money belt or with a pocket that can be attached to any item. Parents track their child’s movements through BlueMap software either on the internet or via a hand-held PDA. The latter shows its location as well as that of the monitored units.
The portable units use GPS and the cell phone network to send positioning information – accurate within 4m – to secure servers. These then relay information, which shows the unit location within the UK or Europe. Paul Clarke proposed an RFID solution, which could overcome these difficulties. Citing the current level of integration of CCTV systems, he says: “If there was a similar initiative to link the RFID systems used by shops to catch shoplifters, it would be possible to search for an RFID tag that could be surgically implanted under a child’s skin or inserted into the fabric of their clothing. “Potentially this could be an international initiative that would mean that if an abductor attempted to take a chipped child into a store that subscribed to the service, store detectives would be notified and by cross-referencing with CCTV footage one could determine the identity of the individual [abducting a child].”

America under surveillance

Granted new power to spy inside the U.S., the Bush administration may be doing more than eavesdropping on phone calls -- it could be watching suspects' every move. In the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 1, 2005, a U-2 surveillance aircraft known as the Dragon Lady lifted off the runway at Beale Air Force Base in California, the home of the U.S. Air Force 9th Reconnaissance Wing and one of the most important outposts in the U.S. intelligence world. Originally built in secret by Lockheed Corp. for the Central Intelligence Agency, the U-2 has provided some of the most sensitive intelligence available to the U.S. government, including thousands of photographs of Soviet and Chinese military bases, North Korean nuclear sites, and war zones from Afghanistan to Iraq. But the aircraft that took off that September morning wasn't headed overseas to spy on America's enemies. Instead, for the next six hours it flew directly over the U.S. Gulf Coast, capturing hundreds of high-resolution images as Hurricane Katrina, one of the largest storms of the past century, slammed into New Orleans and the surrounding region. The U-2 photos were matched against satellite imagery captured during and after the disaster by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Relatively unknown to the public, the NGA was first organized in 1996 from the imagery and mapping divisions of the CIA, the Department of Defense and the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that builds and maintains the nation's fleet of spy satellites.

China to install sensors along NAFTA highway

Radio sensing stations to track traffic and cargo up and down the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway corridor are being installed by Communist China, operating through a port operator subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa, in conjunction with Lockheed Martin and the North America's SuperCorridor Coalition, Inc. The idea is that RFID chips placed in containers where manufactured goods are shipped from China will be able to be tracked to the Mexican ports on the Pacific where the containers are unloaded onto Mexican trucks and trains for transportation on the I-35 NAFTA Superhighway to destinations within the United States. NASCO, a trade association based in Dallas, Texas, has teamed with Lockheed Martin to use RFID tracking technology Lockheed Martin developed for the U.S. Department of Defense's projects in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as at U.S. military stations throughout the world. China has a central position in applying the RFID technology on I-35, given Hutchinson Port Holdings' 49 percent ownership of Savi Networks, the Lockheed Martin subsidiary that will get the job of placing the sensors all up and down the NAFTA Superhighway. Savi Networks is to establish RFID sensors along the I-35 NAFTA trade corridor, with tracking designed to begin at Manzanillo and Lázaro Cárdenas, and include "inland points of data capture" positioned at Laredo, San Antonio, Dallas, Kansas City, the Ambassador Bridge, and Winnipeg. Data captured by the RFID sensors would be sent to a data collection center that NASCO has named "The Center of Excellence." The Center of Excellence data collection center will be integrated into Lockheed Martin's militarized Global Transport Network Command and Control Center that is installed and operating at the Lockheed Martin Center for Innovation or "Lighthouse" facility in Suffolk, Virginia.

World's First RFID Smart Retail System Launched

SCHMIDT RFID, a leading RFID solution provider has launched the world’s first Smart Retail System (SRS) which uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and sophisticated software. The system offers customers a unique and innovative shopping experience. The SRS has been successfully implemented in two “mi-tu” stores allowing the Italian style fashion brand to give customers style advice in front of a special Smart Dressing Mirror or while trying clothes on an interactive fitting room. mi-tu is an Italian and Hong Kong jointly owned fashion label aimed mostly at the 20 to 40 young and fashionable female clienteles. “The SCHMIDT RFID SRS is a milestone for retail businesses benefiting from RFID technology and creating a new era for retailing,” said Matthew Man, General Manager of SCHMIDT RFID. “Benefits will be obvious to both customers and stores when the SCHMIDT Smart Retail System is deployed.” The Smart Dressing Mirror automatically detects a clothing item’s RFID tag when it is brought in front of the mirror. It then displays an image of a model wearing the item, while an intelligent fashion mix-and-match engine suggests matching items that are also shown on the model. The customer can then choose matching items with greater choice and ease.

Artificial life likely in 3 to 10 years

Around the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life from scratch and they're getting closer. Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years from someone in the now little-known field of "wet artificial life." "It's going to be a big deal and everybody's going to know about it," said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice, Italy, one of those in the race. "We're talking about a technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental ways — in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict." That first cell of synthetic life — made from the basic chemicals in DNA — may not seem like much to non-scientists. For one thing, you'll have to look in a microscope to see it. "Creating protocells has the potential to shed new light on our place in the universe," Bedau said. "This will remove one of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe and our role." And several scientists believe man-made life forms will one day offer the potential for solving a variety of problems, from fighting diseases to locking up greenhouse gases to eating toxic waste.

Pastor Chuck Baldwin: Have Christians Already Accepted The Mark Of The Beast?

Conservative Christians are still so infatuated with President Bush that they actually believe that anyone who resists the President is resisting God. They further believe that if anyone votes for any candidate who is not a Republican (Bush's party), they are fighting against God. They gladly surrender their constitutional liberties and safeguards. They enthusiastically support an unconstitutional war in Iraq and would no doubt support expanding the war to wherever Bush decided. They happily cede Bush the power to tap their phones, read their emails, or open their mail (without warrant or court order, no less). Regardless of one's politics or religion, the spirit of Big Brother, the spirit of military aggression, the spirit of occultism, the spirit of a police state mentality, the spirit of deception are all part of the spirit of antichrist.

Ongoing Research Supports Artificiality At Cydonia, Mars Face and Pyramids

What is so unique about Cydonia? Geologically it is a mixture of fractured, desert plains containing numerous mesas (flat-topped eroded prominences) with varied craters typical of natural landforms throughout the solar system. But at latitude 41 degrees North, longitude 9 West lie a collection of features which some observers believe are anything but natural. Research conducted by a small group of scientists in America since 1979 has suggested a most exciting possibility - the remains of artificially designed structures.... New interpretative tools like fractal analysis, used to determine the probabilities of non-natural features occurring in a landscape, have also been brought to bear. Fractal analysis highlights any possibly artificial objects due to their non-fractal nature (i.e. they stand out by having a different mathematical signature from the background terrain). When the technique was tested on Viking imagery, the results suggested certain features were strongly non-fractal, and thus by implication, non-natural. Those studying the Cydonia region have identified a number of objects which appear to share certain architectural, artistic and archaeological characteristics not intrinsic to geomorphological formations. The most obvious formation was termed the Face because of its similarity to one. The DiPietro and Molenaar (D&M) pyramid and City are also terms frequently used when nearby landforms are described.

Smart Band(R) RFID Wristband System Shines at Dollywood's Splash Country

Precision Dynamics Corporation (PDC), a global leader in automatic wristband identification solutions, announces the successful implementation of its patented Smart Band® RFID system (Radio Frequency Identification) at Dollywood's Splash Country Water Adventure Park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Dollywood's Splash Country, a water adventure theme park that combines the beauty of the Smoky Mountains with the excitement of water park rides, implemented PDC's RFID Smart Band® Wristband System for daily and season pass water park guests. Guests use the wristbands just like cash for cashless point of sale (POS) at all merchandise and food locations within the park. Introduced to park guests as "Sunny Money," Dollywood's Splash Country touts Precision Dynamics Smart Band® wristband as the easiest way 'under the sun' to enjoy dining and shopping. In sun or shade, wet or dry -- PDC's Smart Band® wristbands work well, making them a great addition to any water park. Purchasing food and beverages at Dollywood's Splash Country is as simple as using the Smart Band® contactless payment feature. Guests walk up to any of the merchandise or retail locations located throughout the park, and the money is electronically loaded onto their wristband using cash, credit or debit cards using POS hospitality and retail applications from MICROS Systems, Inc. and Island Pacific. Then, Smart Band® wristbands can be used at all merchandise, food and restaurant locations throughout Dollywood's Splash Country. All information on the wristband is encrypted, providing the utmost in security for guests.

Radar Bankshots for All-City Surveillance

Radars -- especially a high frequency ones -- are very precise. But they can't see around walls and buildings. Which means if your radar is in a plane looking down into a city, you actually can't see all that much -- buildings hide most of the good stuff. A radar beam doesn't just reflect off objects, though. It can also scatter, bouncing around the landscape before returning to the radar (or a separate sensor). Normally, this "multipathing," as its called, is a bad thing, confusing the radar. But DARPA is hoping to take advantage of the scattering. Even if a radar can't see between two buildings, it could bounce a beam off of one building into the gap between them, looking for cars on the hidden street below. It's like an electromagnetic bank shot. For example, if such a radar was available today, 4 or 5 aircraft or drones over Baghdad could provide an "Automobile AWACS": allowing the US military to know where all cars in the city are and track their movements, which would be a huge boon for counterinsurgency and intelligence work (tracing a car-bomb as it travels through the city, tracing back from an attack, or even attempting to create a 'graph of association' of who meets with who) as well as providing significant early warning for troops on the ground.

National Security Agency can tap a third of world's telecoms

The US National Security Agency (NSA) now has the legal right to monitor over a third of the world's telecoms traffic. Under new provisions of the Protect America Act 2007 recently signed into legislation, as an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, the NSA can monitor all traffic originating, passing through or terminating in the US without requiring a court order. According to telecoms analysts, in excess of 35 per cent of the world's voice and non-voice telecoms traffic is routed through US hubs.

"Star Trek" Warp Speeds a Reality? Scientists Claim Quantum Tunneling Exceeds Speed of Light

The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunneling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws, when the physicists claim they propelled photons faster than the speed of light. The faster than light phenomenon has raised a lot of mind-bending questions about the nature of the universe. In theory such an occurrence on a wider scale could allow for all kinds of strange events, including time travel and instantaneous traveling between distant locations. To see how far they could make photons tunnel, Nimtz and Stahlhofen coupled two glass prisms together to make a cube 40 centimeters on its sides. Since photons tunnel most readily over distances comparable with their wavelength, the physicists used microwaves with a wavelength of 33 cm - long enough for large tunneling distances yet still short enough that the prism can bend the photons’ paths.

VeriChip Enters into Agreement in Healthcare Security with Ekahau

This agreement combines the best wireless solutions available to the healthcare marketplace," said Antti Korhonen, president and CEO of Ekahau. "Xmark offers a superior solution for a variety of security applications, while Ekahau has been extremely effective in tracking assets across large hospital campuses. Together we can offer hospitals the technology they need to meet their most urgent needs." IDTechEx, a UK-based consulting firm, has forecast that by 2016 the market for RFID tags and systems in the healthcare industry will grow to approximately $2.1 billion.

Beta Testing The Mark Of The Beast

Technology is not solely to blame for the erosion of privacy in this nation. Government and businesses have been trying to keep track of you and your habits since the days of the quill pen. But the ability to blend vast databases containing personal information -- and the sophistication of tracking devices that can announce your presence along with myriad vital statistics when you cross a bridge or enter a room -- have brought Americans to a crossroads. Do we shrug and concede that privacy is lost -- "get over it," as one titan of tech declared so bluntly? Or do we look for ways to draw the line, to identify means and places where employers and governments should not dare to tread? One such place: Our bodies. Life has begun to imitate art -- as in the futuristic film "Minority Report" -- with the refinement of toothpick-thick microchips that can be implanted in your arm and packed with loads of personally identifiable information that can be beamed to the world. These radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices -- or "talking bar codes" -- amount to miniature antennas that transmit the types of information that might otherwise be held on a swipe card.

Arctic sea ice set to hit new low

Measurements made by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) showed the extent of sea ice on 8 August was almost 30% below the long-term average. Because the region's melting season runs until the middle of September, scientists believe this summer will end with the lowest ice cover on record. Researchers have forecast ice-free summers in the Arctic by 2040. NSIDC data showed sea ice extent for 8 August as 5.8m sq km (2.2m sq miles), compared to the 1979-2000 August average of 7.7m sq km (3.0m sq miles). The current record low was recorded in 2005, when Arctic sea ice covered just 5.32m sq km (2.09m sq miles). "If you look at data for the first week in August, we are way below what we saw in 2005," explained Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the NSIDC. "So unless something really changes, for example the Arctic suddenly becomes a lot colder, it is going to be hard not to beat the previous record." Dr Serreze added that it was very likely that sea ice cover in the polar region was starting to respond to human induced climate change, resulting from a greater concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Scientists fear that this feedback mechanism will have major consequences for wildlife in the region, not least polar bears, which traverse ice-floes in search of food. On a global scale, the Earth would lose a major reflective surface and so absorb more solar energy, potentially accelerating climatic change across the world.

U.S. Studying Two Dozen 'Clusters' of Possible Homegrown Terrorists

U.S. law enforcement officials say they have identified more than two dozen "clusters" of young Muslim men in the northeast United States who are on a path that could lead to homegrown terror. "Any one of those clusters may be capable of carrying out a terrorist action that will result in fatalities," Rand Corporation terrorism expert Brian Jenkins said. In a report to be made public on August 15, New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly concludes the 9/ll attacks were an "anomaly" and the most serious terror threat to the country comes from clusters of "unremarkable" individuals who are on a path that could lead to homegrown terror. "The threat is real; this is not some bogey man we are creating here. There are individuals who are proselytizing, inciting angry young men to go down this path," said Jenkins, who reviewed and contributed to the NYPD report. The report identifies mosques, bookstores, cafes, prisons and flop houses as what it calls "radicalization incubators" that provide "extremist fodder or fuel for radicalization."

Russian strategic bombers resume Cold War sorties

Russia's strategic bombers have resumed their Cold War practice of flying long-haul missions to areas patrolled by NATO and the United States, a Russian general said on August 9. A Russian bomber flew on August 8, over a U.S. military base on the Pacific island of Guam and "exchanged smiles" with U.S. pilots scrambled to track it, said Major-General Pavel Androsov, head of long-range aviation in the Russian air force. "It has always been the tradition of our long-range aviation to fly far into the ocean, to meet (U.S.) aircraft carriers and greet (U.S. pilots) visually," Androsov told a news conference. "Yesterday we revived this tradition, and two of our young crews paid a visit to the area of the (U.S. Pacific Naval Activities) base of Guam. "I think the result was good. We met our colleagues - fighter jet pilots from (U.S.) aircraft carriers. We exchanged smiles and returned home," Androsov said. Russia is growing more assertive on the international stage and has been trying to project its military power far beyond its borders. Its navy said this week it wanted to revive its Soviet-era presence in the Mediterranean Sea. Last month Britain's Royal Air Force scrambled fighter jets to intercept Russian bombers heading towards British airspace. Russia's military said that was a routine flight.

U.S. Moving Against Iran Revolutionary Guard, To Be Labeled 'Terrorist' In Step Toward War

The United States has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to U.S. officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances. The Bush administration has chosen to move against the Revolutionary Guard Corps because of what U.S. officials have described as its growing involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for extremists throughout the Middle East, the sources said. The decision follows congressional pressure on the administration to toughen its stance against Tehran, as well as U.S. frustration with the ineffectiveness of U.N. resolutions against Iran's nuclear program, officials said.

Scientists predict Global warming will really heat up after 2009

Global warming is forecast to set in with a vengeance after 2009, with at least half of the five following years expected to be hotter than 1998, the warmest year on record, scientists reported on August 9. Climate experts have long predicted a general warming trend over the 21st century spurred by the greenhouse effect, but this new study gets more specific about what is likely to happen in the decade that started in 2005. To make this kind of prediction, researchers at Britain's Met Office -- which deals with meteorology -- made a computer model that takes into account such natural phenomena as the El Nino pattern in the Pacific Ocean and other fluctuations in ocean circulation and heat content. A forecast of the next decade is particularly useful, because climate could be dominated over this period by these natural changes, rather than human-caused global warming, study author Douglas Smith said by telephone. In research published in the journal Science, Smith and his colleagues predicted that the next three or four years would show little warming despite an overall forecast that saw warming over the decade. "There is ... particular interest in the coming decade, which represents a key planning horizon for infrastructure upgrades, insurance, energy policy and business development," Smith and his co-authors noted. The real heat will start after 2009, they said.

Ahmadinejad: Rule of Islam Only Way for Salvation of Mankind

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on August 14, that the rule of Islam on mankind is the only way for salvation of human beings. "There is no truth on earth but monotheism and following tenets of Islam and there is no way for salvation of mankind but rule of Islam over mankind," said Ahmadinejad in a meeting with Afghan Sunni and Shiite ulama at Iranian Embassy in Kabul. President Ahmadinejad said nations are today distancing themselves from culture of materialism and selfishness and look for a new way for their prosperity, that is the path of Islam. He said that the world is on verge of a great upheaval and ulama at this juncture shoulder a heavy responsibility that is introducing genuine Islam as it is.

Traveling Americans threatened with Bible confiscation

Saudi Arabia has launched a series of initiatives to lure tourists, but the Muslim kingdom continues to prohibit Jews and Christians from bringing in Bibles, crucifixes and Stars of David, threatening to confiscate them on sight. The website of the country's national carrier, Saudi Arabian Airlines, declared: "A number of items are not allowed to be brought into the kingdom due to religious reasons and local regulations." The website – after referring to a prohibition on narcotics, firearms and pornography – states: "Items and articles belonging to religions other than Islam are also prohibited. These may include Bibles, crucifixes, statues, carvings, items with religious symbols such as the Star of David, and others." This was confirmed in a conversation with a Saudi Arabian Airlines employee in New York, who would only give her name as Gladys. "Yes, sir," she said, "that is what we have heard, that it is a problem to bring these things into Saudi Arabia, so you cannot do it."

Britain To Expand Police State Apparatus and ID All Subjects

The United Kingdom is now selecting companies to develop a compulsory multi-billion pound national identity card programme to complement the massive surveillance system monitoring the movements of British subjects. The Labour government called the £5.7 billion ID programme "another milestone" in the fight against terrorism, organised crime, and illegal immigration, while opposition parties and civil liberties groups argue the programme smacks of the police state and is another milestone in eroding the freedoms and the privacy once enjoyed by Britons. Under this scheme Britons would be compelled to take up biometric national ID cards containing all ten fingerprints, which at some later date would also incorporate iris and face-recognition technology.

Terrorists Teaming Up With Mexican Drug Cartels

Islamic extremists embedded in the United States — posing as Hispanic nationals — are partnering with violent Mexican drug gangs to finance terror networks in the Middle East, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report. "Since drug traffickers and terrorists operate in a clandestine environment, both groups utilize similar methodologies to function ... all lend themselves to facilitation and are among the essential elements that may contribute to the successful conclusion of a catastrophic event by terrorists," said the report. The report outlines an ongoing scheme in which multiple Middle Eastern drug-trafficking and terrorist cells operating in the U.S. fund terror networks overseas, aided by established Mexican cartels with highly sophisticated trafficking routes. These terrorist groups, or sleeper cells, include people who speak Arabic, Spanish and Hebrew and, for the most part, arouse no suspicion in their communities. "It is very likely that any future 'September 11th' type of terrorist event in the United States may be facilitated, wittingly or unwittingly, by drug traffickers operating on both sides of the United States-Mexico border," the DEA report says.

Medical science aims to microchip you

Imagine a microchip the size of a grain of rice, implanted under your skin, that doctors can scan in order to retrieve your medical information. The American Medical Association has endorsed the use of implantable microchips to help reduce medical errors and adverse drug reactions. It said the chips may help to identify patients, "thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care," reports the latest issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. In Canada, the technology is unregulated as a medical device, according to Health Canada. But Canadian doctors, ethicists and critics wonder if it could come here. "It's a very real possibility," said Teresa Scassa, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and technology expert. "The implantable medical chips are being looked at very seriously by hospitals and other health-care facilities." In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration has already approved a microchip – with limited storage and a transmission range of a few metres – that contains basic information, such as the presence of a chronic disease or pacemaker, according to the CMAJ. Toronto critical-care surgeon Dr. Talat Chughtai said that saving lives "trumps everything else." Doctors have no way of knowing the medical history of a patient wheeled into the emergency ward if they are alone and unable to speak. "(If) I'm there with a patient (in the emergency ward) at 2 a.m. who can't tell me what they have ...," says Chughtai. "In an acute case, this could help save a patient's life."

‘Surveillance society’ warning on data sharing

Confidential personal data – gleaned from sources as diverse as driving licences, medical records and store loyalty cards – is now often shared without people’s knowledge, the information commission warned in its latest salvo against what it calls the “surveillance society”. The commission says the increasingly complex web of information sharing – involving the public and private sectors, and bodies ranging from hospitals to credit reference agencies – can make it hard for people to assert their legal rights to view information held about them. The commission does not name specific organisations, but its comments echo a growing debate over the increasingly widespread and sophisticated use of information gathered by official agencies and businesses. The data can be gleaned from sources such as supermarket loyalty cards and Transport for London’s Oyster plastic travel ticket. Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said there was “almost zero awareness” among the public of the detail of how data was shared, meaning that in some organisations sharing of information was becoming the “default”. “Very soon, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to stop the data sharing juggernaut,” he said.

Al Qaeda Cell May Be Loose in U.S., British Plot Hints

As an American-born spokesman for Al Qaeda threatens to blow up American embassies abroad, intelligence gleaned from last month's British "doctors plot" of car bombers suggests that a Qaeda cell is on the loose in the American homeland. E-mail addresses for American individuals were found on the same password-protected e-mail chains used by the United Kingdom plotters to communicate with Qaeda handlers in Europe, a counterterrorism official said on August 6. The American and German intelligence community now believe the secure e-mail chains used in the United Kingdom plot have provided a window into an operational Qaeda network in several countries. "Because of the London and Glasgow plot, we now know communications have been made from Al Qaeda to operatives in the United States," the counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity. "This plot helps to connect a lot of stuff. We have seen money moving a lot through hawala networks and other illicit finance as well.

Extreme Weather Breaks Records In 2007

The world experienced a series of record-breaking weather events in early 2007, from flooding in Asia to heatwaves in Europe and snowfall in South Africa, the United Nations weather agency said on August 7. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said global land surface temperatures in January and April were likely the warmest since records began in 1880, at more than 1 degree Celsius higher than average for those months. There have also been severe monsoon floods across South Asia, abnormally heavy rains in northern Europe, China, Sudan, Mozambique and Uruguay, extreme heatwaves in southeastern Europe and Russia, and unusual snowfall in South Africa and South America this year.

Chinese Intentions and American Preparedness

On January 11, 2007 the Chinese launched a missile from a mobile transporter-erector launcher (TEL) armed with a kinetic kill vehicle and destroyed the Fengyun-1C weather satellite. This satellite was orbiting the earth in a low, polar orbit. This missile was launched with no advanced warning from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and they didn’t respond to the test until much later. According to Air Force Space Command, 700 spacecraft in low Earth orbit are now at risk due to the debris cloud created. I would say in addition to the debris cloud, all of our satellites and manned spacecraft, within range of these weapons, are endangered and the Chinese ASAT interceptor program should be taken seriously.

Time Machine Theory: A Step Forward In Travelling Backwards?

From H.G Wells' classic novel to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, the popular imagination has long been enthralled by the prospect of time travel. Now researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology, Techion, have released a paper outlining theoretical advances that could one day assist in liberating the notion of a time-machine from the realms of pure science fiction. The research by Prof. Amos Ori of the Technion’s Faculty of Physics centers around a new model of space-time that overcomes some (but not all) of the theoretical stumbling blocks that would prevent the required curvature of space-time needed to facilitate time travel.

Implantable chip maker merges with its biggest investor

Applied Digital, an ID and security technology company is buying St. Paul, Minn. -based Digital Angel, the company that makes implantable patient data chips marketed and sold by VeriChip Corp. The all-stock deal is valued at $31 million. Applied Digital created VeriChip, also based in Delray Beach, Fla. , to market and sell the medical record chips that are about the size of a grain of rice. The chips make it possible for individuals to carry their medical history at all times. Proponents say they help prevent medical errors. VeriChip lost $2.6 million on sales of $8.2 million in the quarter that ended June 30. Most of its revenue came from products other than the implantable chip, such as its infant protection systems. Applied Digital will acquire the remaining 45 percent minority interest it does not currently own in Digital Angel. Once the transaction is complete, the companies will name a new CEO. Applied Digital officials said the new company would trade on the Nasdaq, probably under a new name. The merger will give Digital Angel stockholders ownership in VeriChip Corp. , which went public in February. Applied Digital executives say the merger strips away unnecessary corporate overhead and holding company structure, allowing significant streamlining of operations and reduction of costs, expected to be in excess of $2 million per year.

Giant Robotic Spy Blimp Creeps Forward

Imagine a blimp so huge, you could fit an entire, 1000-foot aircraft carrier inside. And the radar at heart of that monster zeppelin? Well, that would be as big as the 15-story hotel where DARPA, the Pentagon's mad science division, is holding its conference. DARPA first proposed a king-sized, robotic airship, four years ago. The idea was to have the blimp is at nearly 65,000 feet in the sky, spotting enemies up to 180 miles away, and watching out for incoming cruise missiles 350 miles in the distance. During down times, ISIS might even serve as a cell tower in the sky, relaying communications to U.S. troops. Now, ISIS program manager Tim Clark says, the components are starting to prove out. Clark set a goal of 400 kilowatt hours per kilogram for the blimp's power structure -- everything from the fuel cells to the solar panels to the cables in between. DARPA-funded researchers are likely to hit 700 kilowatt hours in upcoming tests, he tells DANGER ROOM. "I'm feeling very comfortable. Things are no longer over the horizon. Now it's a manufacturing issue," Clark adds.

U.S. Debate Over Microchips In Humans

Chipping, these critics said, might start with Alzheimer’s patients or Army Rangers, but would eventually be suggested for convicts, then parolees, then sex offenders, then illegal immigrants — until one day, a majority of people in the United States, falling into one category or another, would find themselves electronically tagged. Thirty years ago, the first electronic tags were fixed to the ears of cattle, to permit ranchers to track a herd’s reproductive and eating habits. In the 1990s, millions of chips were implanted in livestock, fish, pets, even racehorses. Microchips are now fixed to car windshields as toll-paying devices, on "contactless" payment cards. They’re embedded in Michelin tires, library books, passports and, unbeknownst to many consumers, on a host of individual items at Wal-Mart and Best Buy. But City-Watcher.com employees weren’t appliances or pets: They were people, made scannable.

Scientists Increasingly Concerned Over Future "War Of The Worlds"

Recently, astronomers told the British Government that we might find life in space.... And when we find that planet, we may discover a lot more than new oceans and land masses. Many scientists, frightened by the danger that might lurk out there, have argued against seeking contact with extraterrestrials. Jared Diamond, professor of evolutionary biology and Pulitzer Prize winner, says: "Those astronomers now preparing again to beam radio signals out to hoped-for extraterrestrials are naive, even dangerous." Could it be that, from across the gulf of space, as H. G. Wells put it, there may emerge an alien threat? Well, the threat is real enough to worry many scientists, who make a simple but increasingly urgent point: if we don't know what's out there, why on earth are we deliberately beaming messages into space, to try to contact these civilisations about whom we know precisely nothing?.... When I was a young scientist 20 years ago at Jodrell Bank observatory in Cheshire, England, I asked Sir Bernard Lovell, founder of Jodrell Bank and pioneering radio astronomer, about it. He had thought about it often, he said, and replied: "It's an assumption that they will be friendly - a dangerous assumption." Lovell's opinion is echoed today by the leading scientists. Physicist Freeman Dyson, of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, has been for decades one of the deepest thinkers on such issues. He insists that we should not assume anything about aliens. "It is unscientific to impute to remote intelligences wisdom and serenity, just as it is to impute to them irrational and murderous impulses," he says. "We must be prepared for either possibility."

Senator Trent Lott Warns ; Get Out of Washington D.C. While You Still Can

Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) ominously advised on August 2, that Congress needed to pass changes to terrorist surveillance laws before leaving for the August recess and warned that otherwise “the disaster could be on our doorstep.” Further demonstrating his counterterrorism sagacity, when asked if people should leave Washington, D.C., during the month of August, Lott replied that "I think it would be good to leave town in August, and it would probably be good to stay out until September the 12th."

I.B.M. To Build Supercomputer that can reach 'petaflop' speeds

The National Science Foundation is planning to award I.B.M. a contract to build the world’s fastest supercomputer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, according to documents that were accidentally placed on a federal government Web site for a short time last week. The decision to build the machine, which will cost $200 million to build and may cost more than $400 million during its five-year lifetime, is already proving to be controversial. The new computer is to be the first supercomputer capable of one thousand trillion mathematical operations a second — a computing benchmark known as a petaflop. “This will be a rather special machine,” said Jack Dongarra, a computer scientist at the University of Tennessee, who is one of the researchers who has helped rank the world’s fastest supercomputers.

China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People

At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity. Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens. Data on the chip will include not just the citizen’s name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord’s phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China’s controversial “one child” policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card. Security experts describe China’s plans as the world’s largest effort to meld cutting-edge computer technology with police work to track the activities of a population and fight crime. But they say the technology can be used to violate civil rights. The Chinese government has ordered all large cities to apply technology to police work and to issue high-tech residency cards to 150 million people who have moved to a city but not yet acquired permanent residency. Both steps are officially aimed at fighting crime and developing better controls on an increasingly mobile population, including the nearly 10 million peasants who move to big cities each year. But they could also help the Communist Party retain power by maintaining tight controls on an increasingly prosperous population at a time when street protests are becoming more common. “If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future,” said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology.

Coral reefs dying faster than expected

Coral reefs in much of the Pacific Ocean are dying faster than previously thought, according to a study recently released, with the decline driven by climate change, disease and coastal development. Researchers from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill found that coral coverage in the Indo-Pacific — an area stretching from Indonesia's Sumatra island to French Polynesia — dropped 20 percent in the past two decades. About 600 square miles of reefs have disappeared since the 1960s, the study found, and the losses were just as bad in Australia's well-protected Great Barrier Reef as they were in poorly managed marine reserves in the Philippines. "We found the loss of reef building corals was much more widespread and severe than previously thought," said John Bruno, who conducted the study along with Elizabeth Selig. "Even the best managed reefs in the Indo-Pacific suffered significant coral loss over the past 20 years." The study, which examined 6,000 surveys of more than 2,600 Indo-Pacific coral reefs done between 1968 and 2004, found the declines began earlier than previously estimated and mirror global trends. The United Nations has found close to a third of the world's corals have disappeared, and 60 percent are expected to be lost by 2030.

Former CIA Director: Terrorist Strike Within U.S. Real Threat

Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey says that terrorists could strike the American homeland — possibly with a weapon of mass destruction — this summer or early fall. He also warns that if Iran fails to comply with international efforts to stop its nuclear weapons program, the U.S. will have no other option than to bomb it. "I think the threat of a serious attack in the next few months is very real," Woolsey said. A terrorist strike with a dirty bomb or with biological weapons was "a real possibility." Woolsey's comments echo those of FBI Director Robert Mueller, who in May said that al-Qaida's paramount goal is clear: to detonate a nuclear device that would kill hundreds of thousands of Americans.

Canada Has '24'-Like Team Ready For Chemical, Biological Attack

The JNBCD, part of the military's special operations command, handles the "Jack Bauer-24" type scenarios; it provides a national response for chemical, biological and radioactive threats, whether it be tracking down and dealing with a weapon of mass destruction or collecting and cataloging evidence that might be used in court to prosecute terrorists for creating or setting off such a device. The unit was formed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and by July 2002 was ready with an initial cadre of 46 people. Over the years it has expanded to include more than 100 personnel and a technical array of equipment ranging from robots that can operate in contaminated environments to some of the best nuclear, biological and chemical protective gear in the world. "It's not a large unit, but it's very surgical in nature," explained Maj. Stephane Boucher, until recently the JNBCD company's commanding officer.

U.S. Navy working on energy weapons

Death rays, phasers, photon torpedoes and lasers that instantaneously vaporise the enemy; we've seen them all, in films and on TV serials like Star Trek. But science fiction may soon become fact. The US Navy has a 'Directed Energy and Electric Weapons Program Office' that plans to develop a range of energy and electric weapons, including electromagnetic (EM) rail guns, high-energy lasers (HELs) and high-power microwaves, in the not-too-distant future. In fact a little-known company called Envisioneering Inc, in Alexandria, Virginia, has received a sole source $9.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract on an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity basis, for systems analysis, system-component design and development, system test and evaluation, data collection and analysis in support of the programme. While over 90 per cent of the work will be done at Envisioneering's laboratories in King George, Virginia, 8 per cent will go to its other facilities; 6 per cent to Kauai, Hawaii, and 2 per cent to Kirkland, Washington. The project is expected to be complete only by July 2012. The contract was not competitively procured, as Envisioneering is the only firm with the knowledge and technical capability for the job. Started in 1982 by a war veteran, the company has 160 employees spread over eight locations in four states in the US. Envisioneering says it specialises in countermeasures, directed energy technologies, photonics, electronic sensors and systems, modelling, simulation and analysis, systems development and integration, test planning and support, laboratory and facility operations, defense and homeland security, and force protection.

Republican US Senator Calls For All Americans To Have National Biometric ID

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said on August 8, he will introduce legislation to replace all paper Social Security cards with plastic biometric cards that can't be duplicated, so employers can be certain of the legal status of their workers. "The documents used to get a job in America, a Social Security card, is a piece of paper that's easily, fraudulently duplicated," Graham said at the University of South Carolina, where he and Homeland Security Department Secretary Michael Chertoff demonstrated a program employers can use to check the legal status of workers. Until all Americans have a secure form of identification, the best worker identification tool is a voluntary federal program used by 19,000 employers so far, Chertoff said. The computerized system verifies that the name, age and Social Security number workers give to employers match, he said.

Police want 'tesco jails' in every shopping centre in the UK

Retailers are calling for short-term prisons, dubbed "Tesco jails", to be compulsory in all shopping centres. Police are backing the proposals to help tackle shoplifting, which costs £767 million in England and Wales last year. Suspects could be held for up to four hours in the units, allowing police to identify them, take a DNA sample and handout cautions or reprimands if required. Police also want mobile units at major sporting venues as a way of quickly dealing with football hooligans and drunks. The Home Office confirmed it was looking at plans for "short term holding facilities" which could be used to lock up and process suspects. The main purpose of "Tesco jails" would be to help police process high-volume crimes like shoplifting, large-scale public disorder and big protests. It is hoped the units would enable officers to get back on the streets more quickly. Sergeant David Warren, of Kent Police, told the Times that the "jails" were exactly what forces such as his needed. He told the newspaper: "Short-term holding facilities should not be restricted to shopping centres, but should be an option that the police should use at other facilities such as smaller police stations, sporting or entertainment centres, hospital sites or local authority sites."

New Al Qaeda Threat Of Radioactive Attacks Naming New York, Los Angeles, Miami

The al Qaeda communications accuse the Americans of the grave error of failing to take seriously the videotape released by the American al Qaeda spokesman Adam Gaddahn last week. “They will soon realize their mistake when American cities are hit by quality operations,” said one message. Another said the attacks would be carried out “by means of trucks loaded with radio-active material against America’s biggest city and financial nerve center.” A third message mentioned New York, Los Angeles and Miami as targets. It drew the answer: “The attack, with Allah’s help, will cause an economic meltdown, many dead, and a financial crisis on a scale that compels the United States to pull its military forces out of many parts of the world, including Iraq, for lack of any other way of cutting down costs.”

A Blueprint For 'Smart' Health Care

What people have come to expect in cell phones and personal communicators may soon become common in health-care devices and products at home and in medical offices, thanks to new technology announced recently by the University of Florida and IBM. The technology creates the first-ever roadmap for widespread commercial development of "smart" devices that, for example, take a person's blood pressure, temperature or respiration rate the minute a person steps into his or her house -- then transmit it immediately and automatically to doctors or family. That could eliminate the need for many doctor's visits, which are often difficult for the elderly or sick. By enabling regular updates via text message or e-mail, the technology also could pave the way for people to share real-time information on their health or well-being with absent loved ones. And it could prove useful for doctors who need to keep tabs on many patients at one time by helping the doctors to prioritize whom to treat first. "We call it quality-of-life engineering," said Sumi Helal, professor of computer engineering and the project's lead UF researcher. "It's really a change of mindset." The idea of using technology to provide medical care at a distance is nothing new. Doctors have relied on "telemedicine" to communicate with specialists for years. More recently, telemedicine has been expanded to include, for example, surgeons performing robotic procedures on distant patients. But the UF-IBM advance goes a step further: It provides the technological "stepstones" to make it easy for any company to manufacture and sell smart networked devices -- while also making them more user-friendly for consumers.

Scientist Makes Dire Earthquake Prediction

Sandwiched between the powerful San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, the Coachella Valley could be the epicenter of the most devastating earthquake in the country, one that is already 300 years overdue, a government scientist warned on August 9. "There will be several thousand dead and billions of dollars in damage," said Lucy Jones, a seismologist at the U.S. Geological Survey and a member of the California Seismic Safety Commission. She also said a devastating quake could topple buildings as far away as Los Angeles.

Nuclear terrorism: The new day after

For a Hiroshima-sized bomb, "little could be done" for those within two miles of ground zero. Survivors downwind, however, as long as they were getting good information from government broadcasts, would be in a position to decide how many days to shelter in their basements from radiation or to decide whether "to return to pick up a beloved pet" from their home in exchange for increasing their lifelong chance of getting cancer to 21 or 22 percent. As for first responders: "Few would choose to have their risk of death from cancer go up to 30 percent. But in cases of smaller probabilities . . . a first responder might be willing to go into a radiation zone." Since there might be a second bomb, the article goes on, "people in other cities might want to evacuate on the day after, or at least move their children to the countryside, as happened in England during World War II." Meanwhile they advise that the U.S. government should refrain from attacking a country, such as Russia or Pakistan, whose fissile material was in a terrorist bomb because "their cooperation would be needed to find out who got the bombs and how many there were." The survivors, even if they can tune into government broadcasts, will be making few rational calculations. They will be utterly traumatized by the scenes of human devastation all around them, and many will be further devastated by the loss of spouses, children, parents, or friends caught in the eye of the nuclear storm. In such a situation some, their minds unhinged, will do stupid, heroic things (such as heading into the radiation to look for a missing spouse's workplace), while others will panic and flee when they would have been better off sitting with their canned food in the basement.

As If A Giant Plan Is Unfolding: US Guard, Reserve Readiness At Home Continues To Deteriorate

The outgoing military chief, Gen. Pace, had earlier warned Congress that America's ability to deal with another crisis in the world is steadily being eroded. Pace said a classified report determined that there is a “significant” risk that the US will not be able to adequately respond to military conflicts with North Korea, China, Iran … or even Cuba. Former Secretary of State and JCS Chairman Colin Powell said the active Army is just “about broken.” Andrew Krepinevich, president of the Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said the signs of strain on America's armed forces are equivalent to dead “canaries in the mineshaft” warning of impending death. The global war on terrorism has vividly revealed the Army is critically short on both manpower and equipment, and has been allowed to steadily deteriorate since the end of the Cold War, despite the need for an effectively staffed Army to combat the many new threats faced by the US and its allies. These problems are especially sharp within the National Guard, whose forces constitute half of the Army’s deployed forces in Iraq alone. The inability of the Kansas National Guard to immediately get critical resources, supplies and equipment to where Greensburg, Kansas used to stand following the F5 tornado that virtually wiped out the small township on May 4 was emblematic of the larger problems that the Guard, following years of overseas deployments and attendant equipment shortages, will face in the event of a truly cataclysmic-scale, states-side disaster.

US/E.U. plan to database airline passengers' personal information raises deep privacy concerns

While Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff calls it "an essential security measure," worries arise about a looming privacy threat in the new agreement between the United States and the European Union, effective August 1, 2007, that allows the United States to keep extensive profiles of inbound airline passengers. In addition to data such as name, address, flight itineraries, and credit card information, the United States will now database more intimate details about passengers as provided by airlines, such as race, political opinions, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation. Personal data received, even on people not under suspicion, is to be kept on file for fifteen years and only used "when lives are at risk," such as during a terror investigation. "We're going to be able to connect the dots more quickly," says Russell Knocke of the US Department of Homeland Security, "and we're going to be able to provide our front line personnel with a powerful tool that really can help to save lives." Jim Dempsey of the Center of Democracy and Technology worries about how the information will be used, especially in cases of abuse and false accusations. "This is part of a broader trend of the government building databases on the ordinary, lawful activities of ordinary, law-abiding people," laments Dempsey.

China threatens to trigger U.S. dollar crash

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress. Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies. Described as China's "nuclear option" in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels. It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.

‘Possible Attack on the U.S. Within Ninety Days’

Counterterrorism expert Juval Aviv met recently with reporters at Fox News and revealed information, which he believes is accurate, concerning an imminent Al Qaeda attack on five to seven American cities simultaneously. "I predict, based primarily on information that is floating in Europe and the Middle East, that an event is imminent and around the corner here in the United States. It could happen as soon as tomorrow, or it could happen in the next few months. Ninety days at the most,” said Mr. Aviv.
Mr. Aviv knows of that which he speaks. He is a former Israeli Counterterrorism Intelligence Officer and has also served as a special consultant to the U.S. Congress on issues of terrorism and security. He is best known as the source of the 1984 book, Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, on which Steven Spielberg's film Munich was based. He is also the author of The Complete Terrorism Survival Guide: How to Travel, Work and Live in Safety (2003); and Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business (2004). Currently, Aviv is the president of Interfor, Inc., a corporate investigations firm in New York City. So it is clear that Aviv has the background and experience in global terror and its operating methods to warrant taking his current warnings seriously. It would be foolish to ignore or minimize this counterterrorism veteran’s expert prognosis. Mr. Aviv told Fox that, from what his sources have been relating, sleeper cells that already have been placed inside the continental United States are on the verge of carrying out major attacks. “What they’re going to do," he explained, "is hit six, seven or eight cities simultaneously to show sophistication and really hit the public. This time, which is the message of the day, it will not only be big cities. They’re going to try to hit rural America. They want to send a message to rural America: "You’re not protected. If you figured out that if you just move out of New York and move to Montana or to Pittsburgh, you’re not immune. We’re going [to] get you wherever we can and it’s easier there than in New York."

Physicists Have 'Solved' Mystery Of Levitation

In a report that sounds like it comes out of the pages of a Harry Potter book, the University of St Andrews team has created an 'incredible levitation effects’ by engineering the force of nature which normally causes objects to stick together. Professor Ulf Leonhardt and Dr Thomas Philbin, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland, have worked out a way of reversing this pheneomenon, known as the Casimir force, so that it repels instead of attracts. Their discovery could ultimately lead to frictionless micro-machines with moving parts that levitate But they say that, in principle at least, the same effect could be used to levitate bigger objects too, even a person.

Persecution of Christians Increasing Worldwide

Christians continue to be martyred abroad, but few American believers are aware of how pervasive religious persecution is around the world. "Christians in this nation don't realize how fortunate they are to live in the U.S.," observes Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International. The Taliban's kidnapping of the South Korean aid workers in Afghanistan illustrates how that conflict is essentially religious. Yet "the U.S.-backed government is little friendlier to Christians," observes Jacobson. "Last year Christian convert Abdul Rahman barely evaded a death sentence, and only after Western nations placed substantial pressure on Kabul." In Turkey attacks continue on Christians and churches. In an area along the Black Sea coast where an Italian Catholic priest was previously murdered, a Protestant church was vandalized and its pastor threatened. "Earlier this year three Christians were murdered in a particularly gruesome fashion by Muslim extremists," Jacobson points out. Attacks on Christians are up in India. In one city a Catholic convent school was attacked; in another town Hindu fanatics murdered a Christian convert; elsewhere a Protestant minister was arrested for allegedly offering money for a conversion, after seeking to mediate a dispute within a Buddhist family; in another case Christian missionaries were beaten. "India might be a democracy," notes Jacobson, "but it is far from free religiously." In Kazakhstan, Christians were tossed out of their home because they held an unauthorized prayer meeting. A Baptist minister was arrested in Azerbaijan while conducting services. Far worse "is the plight of Christians in Iraq," says Jacobson. Christians are routinely murdered and kidnapped; Christian churches are regularly destroyed; hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled Iraq.

Flashlight Weapon Makes Targets Throw Up

It looks like a big flashlight — but it's really a nonlethal weapon designed to make you sick. Intelligent Optical Systems, Inc., of Torrance, Calif., has been granted a contract by the Department of Homeland Security to develop what it calls the "LED Incapacitator," according to a DHS online newsletter. The handheld device using light-emitting diodes to emit super-bright pulses of light at rapidly changing wavelengths, causing disorientation, nausea and even vomiting in whomever it's pointed at.

Russian sub plants Soviet flag under North Pole

Russian explorers dived deep below the North Pole in a submersible on July 2, and planted their national flag on the seabed to stake a symbolic claim to the energy riches of the Arctic. A mechanical arm dropped a specially made, rust-proof titanium flag painted with the Russian tricolor onto the Arctic seabed at a depth of 4,261 meters (13,980 ft). "It was so lovely down there," Itar-Tass news agency quoted expedition leader Artur Chilingarov as saying as he emerged from one of two submersibles that made the dive. "If a hundred or a thousand years from now someone goes down to where we were, they will see the Russian flag," said Chilingarov, 67, a top pro-Kremlin member of parliament. Russia wants to extend right up to the North Pole the territory it controls in the Arctic, believed to hold vast reserves of untapped oil and natural gas, which is expected to become more accessible as climate change melts the ice. President Vladimir Putin congratulated the expedition by telephone on "the outstanding scientific project," local agencies reported. Boris Gryzlov, who heads the State Duma lower chamber of parliament and the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, hailed the expedition as "a new stage of developing Russia's polar riches." "This is fully in line with Russia's strategic interests," local media quoted him as saying. "I am proud our country remains the leader in conquering the Arctic. I am proud United Russia members took part in this unprecedented mission."

U.S. Outfitting B-2's with Monster Bunker Buster Bombs - Iran May Be Target

The U.S. is retrofitting its B-2 Stealth bombers with massive bunker-buster bombs - a move that could be a prelude to an attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities. Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it stop its nuclear weapons programs. Experts have noted that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program could be difficult due to the large number of installations - some of which are buried deep underground in hardened bunkers. In a recent NewsMax Magazine, Kenneth R. Timmerman's report "The Coming War with Iran: 6 Days of Hell" predicted the U.S. would outfit B-2's as a prelude to an attack on Iran. Apparently the U.S. has big plans for Iran. Northrop Grumman announced last week in a little noticed release that the company had begun integrating on the B-2's a new 30,000-pound-class "penetrator bomb" or bunker buster. "The U.S. Air Force's B-2 Stealth bomber would be able to attack and destroy an expanded set of hardened, deeply buried military targets" using the monster bunker buster, the company said in its release.

New Law Gives Government Six Months to Turn Internet and Phone Systems into Permanent Spying Architecture

A new law expanding the government's spying powers gives the Bush Administration a six-month window to install possibly permanent back doors in the nation's communication networks. The legislation was passed hurriedly by Congress over the weekend and signed into law Sunday by President Bush. The bill, known as the Protect America Act, removes the prohibition on warrantless spying on Americans abroad and gives the government wide powers to order communication service providers such as cell phone companies and ISPs to make their networks available to government eavesdroppers.

Gangs Spreading In The Military

U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero's welcome while home on leave. "Not only did I love my son - but my god - I liked the man he was becoming," his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers. But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive. When Johnson died, he wasn't in a war zone, he was in Germany. "He had finished his term in Iraq," his mother said. "I talked to him the day before his death. He said, 'Mom, I'm in the process of discharging out. I'll be out in two weeks'." On July 3, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the 'Gangster Disciples,' a notorious Chicago-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a "jump-in" - an initiation rite common to many gangs. "My son never spoke of joining a gang," Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras. Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later. "I feel like I didn't prepare him enough to deal with this and I should have," his mother said. "But how would I have known there were gangs in the military? I could have had that talk with him." Evidence of gang culture and gang activity in the military is increasing so much an FBI report calls it "a threat to law enforcement and national security." The signs are chilling: Marines in gang attire on Parris Island; paratroopers flashing gang hand signs at a nightclub near Ft. Bragg; infantrymen showing-off gang tattoos at Ft. Hood. "It's obvious that many of these people do not give up their gang affiliations," said Hunter Glass, a retired police detective in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the home of Ft. Bragg and the 82nd Airborne. He monitors gang activity at the base and across the military.

Implanted Chip Ends Need For Medical Charts

A patient's medical history is one of the most important tools a doctor can have. More than 300 Americans have chosen a new way to make their information available in a heartbeat. Medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay stopped by Aug 2, on CBS's 'The Early Show' to discuss Verichip, a new way to ensure that your doctor will always have your medical information. Verichip is a small electronic chip, the size of a piece of rice, that gets injected into your upper arm. Hospital personnel can run a scanner over the embedded Verichip and by using an ID number in the chip, they can see your medical history instantly. They can also see what medications you are taking, dosages, allergies, blood type, the name of your doctor, and any medical procedures you've undergone. Dr. Joseph Feldman, head of the Emergency Department at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, believes that patients with the greatest needs are the ones the chip will help the most. "Our sickest patients are usually unconscious or have altered mental status or are unable to communicate because they're in too much pain or anxiety," he said. The Verichip uses the same technology that lets motorists pay tolls without stopping, as well as the same chip that helps control inventory at retail stores. Some people are concerned that Verichip could be an invasion of privacy. Privacy expert Marc Rosenberg worries that scanners at retail stores and toll booths will also have the power to read the chips in patients' arms. "They do literally broadcast your identity," he said. "It's a bit like having your Social Security number being transmitted from your body." But Verichip patient Molly Minicucci Phillips isn't concerned about the privacy issue. "I have credit cards. I have EZ-Pass. I have all that," he said. "They probably could get more through that than from the Verichip."

Russia to set up naval base on Syrian soil

Another phase in Russian President Vladimir Putin's imperialistic aspirations is being realized. It was just a matter of time before the Russian navy returned to the Mediterranean and resumed permanent command over the Syrian ports of Tartus and Latakia, which it abandoned with the fall of the Soviet Union. A Russian flag on Syrian soil has significant strategic implications. Firstly, it challenges the US and the dominance of the Sixth Fleet stationed in the Mediterranean. Secondly, with its actual presence in Syria, Russia is announcing that it is actively participating in any process and conflict in the Middle East, that it has a stance of its own, and that it must be reckoned with. From Israel's point of view, we can expect a change in the rules of the game in the Mediterranean in general, and more specifically along the Syrian-Lebanon coasts: We haven't seen Soviet spy ships in the Mediterranean for quite some time. A permanent port in Syria would significantly facilitate its operations in our arena. Under such circumstances, the Israeli navy's freedom of action would inevitably change – and we may assume that Israel would have a problem striking at land-based facilities during wartime. The large-scale Syrian-Russian arms deal also includes systems for protecting coasts and ports and land-to-sea missiles of the most advanced type. Now we understand why.

Surveillance Cameras Win Broad Support

Crime-fighting beats privacy in public places: Americans, by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, support the increased use of surveillance cameras — a measure decried by some civil libertarians, but credited in London with helping to catch a variety of perpetrators since the early 1990s. Given the chief arguments, pro and con — a way to help solve crimes vs. too much of a government intrusion on privacy — it isn't close: 71 percent of Americans favor the increased use of surveillance cameras, while 25 percent oppose it. London's surveillance network, known as the "Ring of Steel," is said to have aided in the capture of suspects, including those accused of a pair of attempted car bombings in June. A similar system is coming to New York City, which plans 100 new surveillance cameras in downtown Manhattan by year's end and 3,000 — public and private — by 2010. Chicago and Baltimore plan expanded surveillance systems as well. Critics, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have opposed such systems, arguing that they invade privacy, and could be used to track innocent people. Nonetheless, majority support for surveillance cameras crosses political, ideological and population groups, albeit with differences in degree.

Inside Iran's nuclear nerve centre: halfway house to an atomic bomb

In the bowels of Iran's uranium conversion facility in Isfahan strands of black and red wire stretch from the concrete wall to giant white tanks full of a volatile uranium compound. It is by these slender cords that the international community hopes to hold Iran's atomic ambitions in check. The wires pass through a brass seal that has been soldered and marked in such a way that any attempt to divert the fuel to making a bomb would be spotted by UN inspectors. It is a nuclear trigger the world hopes will never be pulled. With global tensions rising over Iran's nuclear intentions, the doors of the Isfahan plant were opened last week to a small group of journalists from Europe and America in a rare bid for transparency by the embattled but determined government in Tehran. Ten miles south-east of the tiled mosques of Isfahan, Persia's old capital, the conversion plant is a cluster of squat yellow-brick buildings at the foot of some weathered sandstone crags, and ringed by anti-aircraft batteries dug into the surrounding semi-desert. Inside the plant, a dense network of shining vats, pipes and gauges perform the alchemy of turning processed uranium ore, "yellow cake", into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), an elusive gas which is a halfway house to making both nuclear fuel and nuclear bombs. As far as the much of the outside world is concerned, however, Isfahan is a nuclear flashpoint. Almost exactly two years ago, the seals on the tanks of uranium hexafluoride were broken in front of inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in an act of defiance by the Iranian government - a blunt signal Tehran was not going to halt its nuclear progress in return for the incentives Europe was offering. The order was given for uranium conversion to resume at Isfahan after a two-year gap. That decision, in August 2005, marked the start of a crisis that has been steadily worsening ever since, to the point where Washington is said to be studying potential bombing targets, the Iranian leadership is spouting apocalyptic rhetoric, and Europe - once more caught in between - is scrambling to salvage a peaceful solution.

New Al Qaeda Web Ad Threatens 'Big Surprise'

A new al Qaeda propaganda ad, headlined "Wait for the Big Surprise" and featuring a digitally altered photograph of President George Bush and Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf standing in front of a burning White House, was posted on the Internet July 2. The brief clip from al Qaeda's "as Sahab" propaganda arm juxtaposes the doctored photo of Bush and Musharraf along with previously seen images of al Qaeda's top leadership -- Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahri and Adam Gadahn -- as well as a photo of an SUV in a motorcade. There is no additional information provided in the ad, and it closes with the words, "Soon -- God willing," written across the screen and repeated several times.

Baltimore Company marketing Active RFID Tags can be used for tracking assets and people in real-time

Baltimore-based Wireless Builders is now offering Active RFID tags to help companies accurately locate and track any asset or person. The small, battery powered tags utilize standard Wi-Fi networks to track high-value assets and people in real-time in any environment. "This unique technology will extend a companies existing wireless networks' capability to a new application, helping to drive efficiency and productivity," said Rich Schrock, Vice President of Professional Services for Wireless Builders. "We're excited to offer this product to our customers to help drive down the total cost of ownership for their wireless networks and increase their Return-on-Investment. Wireless Builders is constantly looking for new and innovative ways for our customers to utilize their existing network." The active RFID tags used by Wireless Builders use a replaceable four-year battery and come with multiple reader options. One of the many features of the tags is a call button, which allows them to define events according to buttons pushed on the tag. This enables advanced functionality such as emergency reporting or parts replenishment. Active Tags differ from regular RFID tags in that they come with their own power source that can transmit a signal much stronger and farther than traditional RFID tags. Active tags are now being integrated into new US passports.

Bush Urges Congress to Update Terrorism Surveillance Program

President George W. Bush urged Congress to pass legislation to expand potential surveillance targets, a step he said is important to help fight terrorism. Bush's plea comes days after Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said he had serious concerns about the Bush administration's terrorism surveillance program, saying there had been a dispute in the administration over the spying. "Today we face sophisticated terrorists who use disposable cell phones and the Internet to communicate with each other, recruit operatives, and plan attacks on our country,'' Bush said in his weekly radio address. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said recently that Democrats would advance a proposal next week to revise laws governing the the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping programs under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Bush said Congress should update the law to include people in the U.S. suspected of possessing significant information on terrorists or enemy government plots. The law now allows the government to get court approval for eavesdropping only if it shows a clear link to an enemy government or terrorist group.

Sightings of mysterious giant 'Thunderbirds' continue in San Antonio

Strange sightings of a huge flying creature have been reported as recently as six months ago. Guadalupe Cantu III was busy working his newspaper route, but he says the big news of that day 10 years ago flew right over his car. He says he's seen what most have not — an unidentified flying object, one that still scares him. "We were afraid that it would come at us. So we stayed in the car till it passed this way," witness Guadalupe Cantu III said. "This thing's all feathers, all black. Much bigger than me. It looked at us. It had very stooped-up shoulders." The beast has been spotted from the Rio Grande Valley to the mountains of New Mexico. "(It) looked like what was possibly two people standing on top of a mountain up there," said David Zander, who saw the monster in New Mexico. "Something that big ... I guess it kinda makes you feel like it could come over and carry you off if it wanted to." San Antonio's Ken Gerhard has written a book on these dark birds as big as planes, with wingspans from 15 to 20 feet. Native Americans called them thunderbirds: depicted in their art, their flapping wings were said to cause explosive noises. "What's interesting is that the reports of these giant, raptor-like birds do continue into modern times," said Gerhard, a cryptozoologist. Cryptozoology is the study of and search for legendary animals to prove their existence. He says there's solid evidence something is overhead. "I believe there's a good chance that a lot of large, prehistoric animals, if you will, remain undiscovered by modern science," he said. So what could the giant birds be? Some witness sketches eerily resemble prehistoric creatures, like the pteronadon of 160 million years ago. However, Gerhard theorizes it could be a creature that's a little less extinct — if that's possible — a pteratorn. "These are the surviving ancestors of modern condors and vultures. They lived up until 6,000 years ago, we know for sure, in parts of North America," Gerhard said. "In fact, over 100 specimens have been recovered from the La Brea tar pits in California." If you want to read more about 'Thunderbirds' or many other such creatures of Cryptozoology, visit the website: Unknown Creatures

Hezbollah also has Sleeper Agents inside the U.S.

The head of American intelligence, Admiral (ret.) Mike McConnell, revealed a secret recently: Hezbollah sleeper cells are waiting in the United States for the order to carry out terror attacks. The unclassified version of the intelligence assessment, the one distributed to the public, has been stating for years that Hezbollah has the ability and intentions to act against American targets and assets. However, this description has been vague enough to deceive the public into thinking that attacks are expected only in Lebanon and other places in the Middle East. McConnell, who crafted his speech on the fly while on the way from the White House to another location in Washington, tripped up and let slip what the American intelligence community had discovered from its sources and was trying to hide. The difference between the two versions is significant for the American citizen. Attacks on his soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan and other ends of the earth have become routine. This is not the case if inside America they are on the alert for terror acts by underground cells. Ostensibly, it is a considerable intelligence achievement if the Central Intelligence Agency has acquired information about Hezbollah's emergency plans. On the day the attacks come, the surprise will not be total. But this is a deterrent rather than a warning, and the true achievement belongs to Hassan Nasrallah, his operations officer Imad Morniyeh, and the dispatchers in Tehran who want to frighten Washington to the point of thwarting a military initiative against them. In this complex game, the big winner could well be Syria. The expected trigger for Hezbollah attacks, both in the secret assessment and the censored version, is if America or Israel crosses what McConnell calls a "red line" as far as Hezbollah is concerned: an attack on Iran.

The high-tech future for the Army

The next wave will include a lot more robots and drones, and they'll be smarter and more autonomous than the current gear. They'll communicate better with each other and do more and more of the dangerous legwork now done by flesh-and-blood soldiers, and some of them will be as small as insects. Meanwhile, U.S. forces will start to field so-called directed-energy weapons: lasers that can shoot down incoming artillery rounds, and less-than-lethal "heat rays" designed to disperse crowds. With a development schedule stretching well into the next decade--aims for a complete package of fully networked and brand-new gear ranging from unattended ground sensors to manned and unmanned vehicles, common components and a common operating environment, battle command software, next-generation communications systems and more. As it stands, the Army in July set out its schedule for the first FCS spinouts--a "low-rate initial production effort"--of some gear, including ground mobile radio technology and the non-line-of-sight cannon, or NLOS-C.

The "City that Never Sleeps" may soon be known as the "City Under Surveillance."

Staten Island residents are concerned Gotham is creeping closer toward 1984 with the NYPD's plan to install thousands of cameras in Lower Manhattan in the next three years. However, just weeks after the failed car bombings in Britain, there are those who feel the security cameras are an important tool in guarding against another terrorist attack on city soil. As part of the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative [LMSI], more than 100 cameras are expected to be installed and operating by the end of the year, with as many as 3,000 by 2010. "As far as civil liberties, that's a concern," said Frank Piccininni of Randall Manor. He is a former assistant district attorney on Staten Island.
Countered Karen Paolini of West Brighton: "I feel that it's a good thing. I worked right near Wall Street. Anything that helps, there's heavy security there for a reason." Cops, joined by private security agencies working with businesses, would ultimately oversee the footage, which would be fed into a downtown surveillance center monitored by the NYPD and private security agents. The cameras would be able to identify license plates and seek out abandoned packages or suspicious vehicles. Part of the plan would include roadblocks, operated from the surveillance center. The NYPD is also said to be considering face-recognition technology, as well as systems that would find chemical compounds used in bombs. The footage would stream in real time and be archived for future investigations.

First Armed Robots on Patrol in Iraq

After years of development, three "special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system" (SWORDS) robots have deployed to Iraq, armed with M249 machine guns. The 'bots "haven't fired their weapons yet," Michael Zecca, the SWORDS program manager, tells DANGER ROOM. "But that'll be happening soon." The SWORDS -- modified versions of bomb-disposal robots used throughout Iraq -- were first declared ready for duty back in 2004. But concerns about safety kept the robots from being sent over the the battlefield. The machines had a tendency to spin out of control from time to time. That was an annoyance during ordnance-handling missions; no one wanted to contemplate the consequences during a firefight. So the radio-controlled robots were retooled, for greater safety. In the past, weak signals would keep the robots from getting orders for as much as eight seconds -- a significant lag during combat. Now, the SWORDS won't act on a command, unless it's received right away. A three-part arming process -- with both physical and electronic safeties -- is required before firing. Most importantly, the machines now come with kill switches, in case there's any odd behavior. "So now we can kill the unit if it goes crazy," Zecca says. As initially reported in National Defense magazine, only three of the robots are currently in Iraq. Zecca says he's ready to send more, "but we don't have the money. It's not a priority for the Army, yet." He believes that'll change, once the robots begin getting into firefights.

Al Qaeda Seen In Search Of Nukes

Al Qaeda terrorists are continuing to plan attacks against the United States and are seeking nuclear and other unconventional arms for the strikes, a senior Pentagon official told Congress recently. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, told a joint House committee hearing that al Qaeda has conducted terrorist attacks against more than two dozen nations since September 11. "Al Qaeda has and will continue to attempt visually dramatic mass-casualty attacks here at home, and they will continue to attempt to acquire chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials," Gen. Clapper said in discussing the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on threats to the United States. "And if they're so successful in obtaining these materials, we believe they would use them."

Fake Fly Will Be Spy In The Sky

Scientists at Harvard have invented a robotic fly to send on reconnaissance missions in areas too dangerous for humans, such as those contaminated by chemical or biological weapons. It can also be used to find hidden bombs and in search missions. The "flybot", which can fit on a fingertip, is made of lightweight carbon and weighs less than a pin. Researchers, led by Professor Robert Wood, spent seven years on the project with the backing of the US military. "The real benefit of the fly is that from a military aspect, you probably wouldn't be able to notice it," said Prof Wood. Recreating a fly's efficient movements in a robot roughly the size of the real insect was difficult because existing manufacturing processes could not be used to make the sturdy, lightweight parts required. The motors, bearings, and joints typically used for large-scale robots would not work for something the size of a fly. Ultimately, the team developed its own fabrication process, and using laser micromachining, researchers cut thin sheets of carbon fibre and polymer.

Russia deployed over 30 new types of weaponry from Jan - June 2007

The Russian Armed Forces commissioned more than 30 new types of advanced weapon systems in the first half of 2007, the defense minister said on July 3. "Thirty-six types of modern weaponry were deployed with the Armed Forces in the first half of 2007," Anatoly Serdyukov said. The minister said these weapon systems included the submarine-launched R-29RM Sineva ballistic missiles, the S-400 Triumf air defense complex, and the 120-mm Nona SM-1 towed mortar for Ground Forces. The R-29RM Sineva (NATO codename SS-N-23) was designed for use by the Russian Delta IV class submarines, each of which is capable of carrying 16 missiles. It carries four nuclear warheads and has a range of about 8,500 kilometers. Serdyukov also said Russia has successfully conducted test launches of the Yarts land-based ballistic missile, the Bulava sea-launched ballistic missile and the X-102 airborne missile. "We have entered the final testing stage for the entire missile triad," he said. In addition, Russia successfully tested a new version of the Iskander-M ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads and launched two military reconnaissance and communication satellites, the defense minister said.

Gulf 'dead zone' still 3rd largest

The oxygen-poor "dead zone" off the Louisiana and Texas coasts isn't quite as big as predicted this year, but it is still the third-largest ever mapped, a scientist said on July 28. Crabs, eels and other creatures usually found on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico are swimming in crowds on the surface because there is too little oxygen in their usual habitat, said Nancy Rabalais, chief scientist for northern Gulf hypoxia studies. "We very often see swarms of crabs, mostly blue crabs and their close relatives, swimming at the surface when the oxygen is low," she wrote in an e-mail from a research ship as it returned to Cocodrie from its annual measurement trip. Eels, which live in sediments 60 to 70 feet below the water surface, are an even less common sight, she said. The 7,900-square-mile area with almost no oxygen, a condition called hypoxia, is about the size of Connecticut and Delaware together. The Louisiana-Texas dead zone is the world's second-largest hypoxic area, she said.

Al-Qaeda expert predicts summer attacks on West

The US homeland security chief Michael Chertoff was about to ring Jacqui Smith to congratulate her on her appointment as Britain’s home secretary when news came in of the attempted car bombings last month in London and Glasgow. The telephone call extended into two days of urgent talks, intelligence sharing and commiseration. The thwarted bomb plots have fuelled Chertoff’s growing conviction - a “gut feeling”, he said recently - that Al-Qaeda is planning more summer attacks in Britain or America. “In the West we’re going to see an increased tempo in terrorist activity,” he said in an interview. As evidence of the warning signs, Chertoff pointed to developments in south Asia (including Pakistan) where “Al-Qaeda has to some degree regenerated itself” since September 11, 2001, the “substantial increase in the number of public statements” from Al-Qaeda’s leadership and the terrorist organisation’s history of summer attacks as evidence of the heightened threat. The gaunt Chertoff, 53, has the air of a man who stays awake at night worrying. There are several categories of danger from Al-Qaeda, in Chertoff’s view: the threat of a “truly catastrophic attack which could kill thousands of people” and the loss of life on the scale of the London bombings of July 7, 2005, which “can be very bad, but you’re numbering losses in the dozens or couple of hundred”. Then there is the threat of an attack with weapons of mass destruction, which he described as his “number one priority”. Although he does not believe one is imminent, “it is not something we can address at the last minute”. Fears of another September 11 or July 7 are all too real, however. American intelligence chiefs delivered a classified report to the White House recently called “Al-Qaeda better positioned to strike in the West” amid concerns that terrorists born in Europe are multiplying. The ease with which a British-born jihadist may be able to travel to America without a visa has been haunting the US government. Chertoff last week renewed a controversial deal with the European Union that obliges airlines to share information about passengers travelling to the United States.

Gorbachev Says U.S. Is Sowing World Disorder

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev criticised the United States, and current President George W. Bush in particular, on July 27, for sowing disorder across the world by seeking to build an empire. Gorbachev, who presided over the break-up of the Soviet Union, said Washington had sought to build an empire after the Cold War ended but had failed to understand the changing world. "The Americans then gave birth to the idea of a new empire, world leadership by a single power, and what followed?" Gorbachev asked reporters at a news conference in Moscow. "What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the U.N. Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people."

Chinese troops to wear "digital camouflage" uniforms

Designers of the world's largest military have unveiled a new line of digital camouflage uniforms that will make Chinese troops less visible to others. Labelled as "digital camouflage", the new training fatigues sport computer-generated camouflage patterns which, their creators say, are designed to simulate natural environments. "The camouflage pattern resembles a big bunch of flowers from a distance and crushed gravel from close up," said senior engineer Zhang Xudong with the Quartermaster Equipment Institute (QEI). The previous camouflage patterns worn by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) training outfits were hand-painted, accentuating the sharp contrast between different colours. "With the application of pixel-matrix technology, the camouflage functions better as it blurs the divide between different colours," Zhang said, adding a special dye was also used to maximise the camouflage effect. "The digital camouflage pattern can escape the naked eye and counter-reconnaissance in low light and certain wave bands of infrared," he said. Upon the completion of the PLA's largest ever uniform upgradation due in 2009, four different camouflage schemes for urban, wood land, desert and ocean environments will be used. The camouflage scheme for woodland can also be blended into urban environment, the report said. The wear resistance of the new fatigues has quintupled from the previous 140 times to 700 times. The fatigues are complete with training boots which are fire-and-puncture-proof and 100 grams lighter. President of the QEI, Yang Tingxin said much more protective combat uniforms has already been developed and would be deployed at the "right time".

FBI Proposes Building Network of U.S. Informants

The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities. Other recent proposals include expanding its collection and analysis of data on U.S. persons, retaining years' worth of Americans' phone records and even increasing so-called "black bag" secret entry operations. To handle the increase in so-called human sources, the FBI also plans to overhaul its database system, so it can manage records and verify the accuracy of information from "more than 15,000" informants, according to the document.

Military Commander Says al-Qaida Creating New Cells Within the U.S.

A top U.S. military commander said recently he believes there are al-Qaida cells in the United States or people working to create them and the military needs to triple its response teams to counter a growing threat of attack. Air Force Gen. Victor "Gene" Renuart, who heads U.S. Northern Command, said that as the terrorism threat within the nation's boundaries has increased officials have strengthened intelligence sharing, particularly in an effort to shore up security at ports. "I believe there are cells in the United States, or at least people who aspire to create cells in the United States," Renuart said in an interview with The Associated Press. "To assume that there are not those cells is naive and so we have to take that threat seriously." As for attacks, he added: "Am I concerned that this will happen this summer? I have to be concerned that it could happen any day."

The future of mobile Phones and Pacemakers: powered by a heartbeat

Mobile phones could in future be powered by their owner's beating heart after scientists developed a generator that can produce electricity from vibrations in the surrounding environment. Initially developed for use in industrial machinery, the -scientists are now tweaking the design so it can be used to power pacemakers off a beating heart. It would allow patients to avoid surgery to replace batteries in their pacemaker. However, researchers also hope that they will eventually be able to use the highly-efficient generators to power other portable wireless devices, including mobiles and MP3 players. It would mean that mobile users could charge their phone by simply keeping it in their breast pocket near their heart. Steve Beeby, a reader in electronics at Southampton University where the generator has been developed, said: "There is a big drive towards using wireless devices, but one of the challenges in supplying power to these devices is that batteries have a finite supply that needs to be replaced. We have a spin-out company that is now looking at powering pacemakers from the movement of the heart. "As the power consumption of electronic devices continues to fall, the opportunity to use these devices to power them becomes more apparent. The potential is there for devices like mobile phones and MP3 players being at least augmented by vibration generators. There is quite a lot of energy available on a human such as the impact of a heel on the floor which could also be used." The miniature generator works on the same principles as a kinetic powered watch, which uses the movement of a coil between magnets to produce an electrical current. The researchers at Southampton and their company Perpetuum have found that they can tune the device to a particular frequency of movement so it will produce far more power than the devices found in watches.

Pentagon to implant microchips in soldiers' brains

The Department of Defense is planning to implant microchips in soldiers' brains for monitoring their health information, and has already awarded a $1.6 million contract to the Center for Bioelectronics, Biosensors and Biochips (C3B) at Clemson University for the development of an implantable "biochip". Soldiers fear that the biochip, about the size of a grain of rice, which measures and relays information on soldiers vital signs 24 hours a day, can be used to put them under surveillance even when they are off duty. But Anthony Guiseppi-Elie, C3B director and Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Bioengineering claims the that the invivo biosensors will save lives as first responders to the trauma scene could inject the biochip into the wounded victim and gather data almost immediately. He believes that the device has other long-term potential applications, such as monitoring astronauts’ vital signs during long-duration space flights and reading blood-sugar levels for diabetics. “We now lose a large percentage of patients to bleeding, and getting vital information such as how much oxygen is in the tissue back to ER physicians and medical personnel can often mean the difference between life and death,” said Guiseppi-Elie. “Our goal is to improve the quality and expediency of care for fallen soldiers and civilian trauma victims.” The biochip also may be injected as a precaution to future traumas."

DOD seeks builder for shape-shifting military robot that will become a battlefield weapon

Creative scientists have until next week to submit proposals for creating a shape-shifting military robot that can shrink and then reconfigure itself to normal height and shape. The description of the robot, at a high level, is somewhat reminiscent of the villainous liquid-state cyborg of the sci-fi movie Terminator 2 -- except that this robot would be dispatched to save lives on the battlefield. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is accepting proposals for building the so-called Chemical Robot (ChemBot) from researchers. According to the Department of Defense unit's request for proposals, potential developers should avoid using hard materials that can't "rapidly traverse arbitrary size/shape openings whose dimensions are much smaller than the robot itself and are not known a-priori." The RFP suggests using technologies like gels, thickening fluids and shape memory materials that can return to an original shape after completing a mission. DARPA acknowledges that some technologies may still be in the research labs of submitters. Ultimately, the agency said it hopes the ChemBot can provide "the ability to safely and covertly gain access to denied or hostile areas and perform useful tasks," and provide help to soldiers "over a broad spectrum of military operations." DARPA describes ChemBot as a soft and flexible device that can squeeze through apertures and then reassemble to do its job. The agency is looking for the ChemBots to be capable of traveling distances, transforming in all three dimensions and carrying their own power source. DARPA dictates that the ChemBot have tactile sensing capability and a backbone or skeleton that can also dissolve or morph shape, and be either autonomously or remotely controlled. Taking a cue from the animal kingdom, DARPA suggests that the ChemBot have elastic materials capable of twisting, crumpling or bending like an octopus or insect.

NSA Expert: Next Relevation Will Be ISP, Cell Phone Wiretaps

We should be terrified that Congress has not been doing its job and because all of the checks and balances put in place to prevent this have been deliberately obviated. In order to get this done, the NSA and White House went around all of the checks and balances. I'm convinced that 20 years from now we, as historians, will be looking back at this as one of the darkest eras in American history. And we're just beginning to sort of peel back the first layers of the onion. We're hoping against hope that it's not as bad as I suspect it will be, but reality sets in every time a new article is published and the first thing the Bush administration tries to do is quash the story.

Demon of Dartmoor: Mystery beast seen at U.K 'hell hound's haunt

Legend has it that a four-legged fiend with glowing eyes and a blood-curdling howl stalks this very spot. Which makes pictures of a mystery creature taken near Hound Tor on Dartmoor more intriguing than ever. Seen only yards away from a party of schoolchildren, the animal has a thick, shaggy coat, rounded ears and large front limbs which would be powerful enough to tear human flesh. Some say it is a wild dog or cat. More fanciful theories include wolverine or bear. Whatever its identity, the Beast of Dartmoor is giving some farmers sleepless nights because they fear it will prey on their stock. Falconer Martin Whitley, who photographed the creature, said: "It was walking along a path about 200 yards away from me. "It was black and grey and comparable in size to a small pony. It had very thick shoulders, a long, thick tail with a blunt end and small round ears. "Its movements appeared feline, then bear-like sprang to mind. There was a party climbing on the tor opposite making a racket but it ignored them completely." A pack of spectral dogs known as the Whist Hounds or Hounds of Hell is said to roam the area according to local folklore, which inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write the Sherlock Holmes mystery The Hound of the Baskervilles. The author is said to have been inspired by the legend of Squire Richard Cabell, a keen hunter from Brook Manor, Buckfastleigh. The squire was rumoured to have sold his soul to the Devil and after he died on July 5, 1677, a phantom pack of black hunting dogs with glowing red eyes is said to have raced across Dartmoor on the night of his interment, breathing fire and howling at his tomb. According to local legend, the demonic hounds have roamed the moor ever since and can often be seen around the anniversary of his death prowling around the grave trying to get the promised soul for the Devil. The founder of the national research network Big Cats in Britain, Mark Fraser, said: "It looks like a wolverine or a bear in some shots and a big wild dog in others. It is a very strange animal." Mr Whitley is adamant that the creature is not a wild dog. He added: "I have worked with dogs all my life and it was definitely not that.
"I have seen a collie-sized black cat in the area about ten years ago and it was not that - this was a lot bigger. If you want to read about other such creatures of cryptozoology, visit the website: Unknown creatures

CIA Bin Laden Chief: Next Attack ‘Bigger Than 9/11; Could Happen At Any Moment'

If al-Qaida does launch an attack inside the U.S., as the U.S. government suggests, "it will be much bigger than 9/11." This prediction of a nightmarish terror attack comes from Michael Scheuer, the retired CIA veteran who headed the agency's secret unit dedicated to capturing Osama bin Laden.... Almost six years since the Sept. 11 attacks, America's law enforcement still does not know "who is in the country without a pool of illegals that increases by the hour." Today, terrorists could strike with ease if they so choose. Scheuer points to the port of Houston, which could be easily targeted because of its refining operations. On the global front of the war on terror, Scheuer offers a similar pessimistic view because the U.S. has never exercised the full clout of the "military option" to put down the insurgency in Iraq and deal with terrorists elsewhere.

U.S. Air Force has big plans for UAVs

The U.S. Air Force has unveiled a 25-year program for developing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The document lays out a strategy for the project and lists the necessary technologies for this new field of aviation. Military experts say UAVs will mainly carry air-to-air and air-to-surface guided missiles, as well as smart aviation bombs and cluster bombs, including submunitions with different guidance systems. In the future, new kinds of weapons systems may be installed on UAVs. Currently, work is focused on two areas: adapting available weapons for use on unmanned craft and developing new, specialized weapons. During the NATO campaign in Yugoslavia, UAVs were employed only for reconnaissance purposes. In Afghanistan, however, troops used a strike craft called the Predator for the first time, detecting and destroying militant groups of various strengths, their bases and sites for launching unguided missiles. The wide range of available guided weapons makes it possible for UAVs to carry out their missions alone or in conjunction with manned aviation. Because of the enormous payload carried by UAV craft, it is safe to assume that developers will continue to look for ways to make guided aviation weapons smaller.